RC Harmony Of The Seas - Aug 2018 - A short report!

[Ciano]

Hi all. Have been threatening for ages to do a quick trip report for our 7 night cruise on Harmony of the Seas. We were very lucky to be able to do this as part of our holiday to Orlando in 2018. We embarked on Saturday 18th August from Fort Lauderdale. We drove from Orlando that morning. Had brekkie in our favourite Bob Evans and then hit the road. It is roughly a 3 hour ride but we stopped in one of the huge petrol stations to use the bathrooms and grab a coffee. When we got to Fort Lauderdale we dropped our Alamo hired car back to Alamo then got their shuttle over to the terminal which is literally 2 mins drive away! Terminal was busy but all very quick and we were on board before we knew it. Our children were 9 and 14 at the time so we had booked 2 internal cabins which were ajoining. They were great! Would have loved a balcony cabin but would have been a bit anxious about the kids having one even though they are great kids. Having 2 bathrooms was a God send esp in the evening. Kids loved having their own room and everyone had a proper bed. The ship is awesome and it is amazing how quickly you get used to where you are and how to navigate around it. Lots to do on it. Food was very good everywhere from the Windjammer to the dining room. We didn't get the drinks package and that was a mistake. We are not big drinkers but to give you an example I would have a peach snaps and orange juice which was $14 ! I also love a couple of nice coffees a day and then bottled water. All adds up and drinks package works out better. Will know for next time! Staff were great, very nice and friendly from every corner of the world. Ports of call were just out of this world. St Thomas (from where we travelled to St John, paradise!) St Kitts and the Bahamas. It was a wonderful experience. There is an element of the hard sell from RC which I dont like but they are a business. It would be just nice to be left alone once you are on board but it is what it is! That was our 3rd cruise. We are booked on a 3 day one this year to Bahamas and RC new waterpark island on Mariner of the Seas. Can't wait! Here are a few photos :

[Bats]

Thanks Ashline
Where did you have the hard sells? That seems like it would be truly annoying!

Joa

[Red Nats]

Thank you. Anything you can add about food, where you ate, how you did dinner, excursions etc would be appreciated. The weather

We are book on harmony for the first time the same week as you this year. Kids will be 14.12.10. I haven’t booked drinks pancake yet was considering it, we do like a drink on holidays and will have at least a cocktail a day plus wine at dinner.

Thank you!

[bonnies mum]

We have cruised on The Oasis and The Allure of the Seas, same class as The Harmony, they are beautiful ships
Re the hard sell, this focussed on trying to get you to buy meals at the Speciality restaurants, buy photo packages, soft drink deals and the Spa. We didn’t think RC was any worse than Carnival or Princess however. Would also say that the Oasis (out of Port Canaveral) was much worse for the hard sell than the Allure was (from Port Everglades) the Allure having more elderly passengers and less families on our sailings.

[Smilesonfaces]

Originally Posted by Red Nats

Thank you. Anything you can add about food, where you ate, how you did dinner, excursions etc would be appreciated. The weather

We are book on harmony for the first time the same week as you this year. Kids will be 14.12.10. I haven’t booked drinks pancake yet was considering it, we do like a drink on holidays and will have at least a cocktail a day plus wine at dinner.

Thank you!

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We sailed on Harmony of the Seas in November 2017. Can’t remember any hard sell regarding anything on the ship.

I would really recommend you constantly check your cruise planner. Prices of drinks packages/ excursions change all the time. Once you have booked you can cancel and rebook if you see it reduced in price.

I would also highly recommend the speciality dining package. We bought the package for the first 3 nights. We ate in Wonderland, 150 Central Park and Chops Grille. We got this for an amazing deal of $10 each per night. Found it by chance on the cruise planner. I was literally going on every day checking for deals! The food was amazing, I enjoy table service rather than buffets. In Wonderland I didn’t quite know what I was eating but it was delicious and a incredibly special experience.
Our son was 19 and daughter 12, they ate in the buffet and it was nice to go out as a couple for a few meals.

The main dining room was excellent too.

We just had the refreshment package which included speciality coffees, non alcoholic cocktails and the refillable soda cup. Not strictly allowed but you could give the children your soda cups if the adults buy a package. You can take 2 bottles of wine onboard and we purchased another couple of bottles ( about $40 a bottle for the cheapest!) when we went the cocktails were $12. Buying the package onboard will be a lot more expensive than buying in advance.

We all loved the cruise. You will have the most amazing time I’m sure.

[Ciano]

Originally Posted by Red Nats

Thank you. Anything you can add about food, where you ate, how you did dinner, excursions etc would be appreciated. The weather

We are book on harmony for the first time the same week as you this year. Kids will be 14.12.10. I haven’t booked drinks pancake yet was considering it, we do like a drink on holidays and will have at least a cocktail a day plus wine at dinner.

Thank you!

See more...

You will have a ball...harmony is amazing. I was really blown away by how much we enjoyed it. I would highly recommend getting the drinks package. We were sorry we didn't and we are not big drinkers. We found the food in the main dining room could have been warmer some evenings. It seems to come into the room on trollies and then served to the tables but could be sitting on the trollies for a little while. We are going on a 3 nighter this yr and I am def going to do a speciality restaurant for 1 night prob Izumi. The weather was fabulous! My favourite excursion was to St Johns Island. It is a little piece of heaven. I didn't want to leave.

[HiddenMickey35]

Thank you for your feedback and I think I go online and get drinks package for this Oct with Symphony of the Seas.

I will look out for special meals offer too.

Your photos look amazing.

[Vinniecat]

Only just come across this thread. Very helpful as we are on the harmony of the seas on the 18th August this year. I'm not sure what to do about drinks as we will mainly have water. Sometimes we enjoy a cocktail but it wouldn't be every day maybe just a couple over the whole week and one bottle of wine so probably not worth buying a package. I would much rather have a cup of tea! We have paid for the key so we get a meal at chops grille on arrival day and a special breakfast on our last morning. We are very excited.

[Smilesonfaces]

Originally Posted by Vinniecat

Only just come across this thread. Very helpful as we are on the harmony of the seas on the 18th August this year. I'm not sure what to do about drinks as we will mainly have water. Sometimes we enjoy a cocktail but it wouldn't be every day maybe just a couple over the whole week and one bottle of wine so probably not worth buying a package. I would much rather have a cup of tea! We have paid for the key so we get a meal at chops grille on arrival day and a special breakfast on our last morning. We are very excited.

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I would look at the refreshment package. We paid around £13 a night each. Even teas and coffees were quite expensive. You get non alcoholic cocktails, teas and coffees. It also came with a refillable soda cup which you could fill up at the soda machines. Sharing is strictly prohibited but we didn’t even use the soda cups so we could have easily given these to our son and daughter, Remember you can also take 2 bottles of wine onboard with you. We just had these in the cabin. You can take them in to a restaurant but they charge corkage.

You will have a fantastic time !

[Vinniecat]

Originally Posted by Smilesonfaces

I would look at the refreshment package. We paid around £13 a night each. Even teas and coffees were quite expensive. You get non alcoholic cocktails, teas and coffees. It also came with a refillable soda cup which you could fill up at the soda machines. Sharing is strictly prohibited but we didn’t even use the soda cups so we could have easily given these to our son and daughter, Remember you can also take 2 bottles of wine onboard with you. We just had these in the cabin. You can take them in to a restaurant but they charge corkage.

You will have a fantastic time !

See more...

Thank you I will take a look it might be good for my husband and daughter. I don't drink soda or coffee do they do English tea? If not I will probably just get water which unfortunately is Evian not my favourite.