Really a 4.5 aboard Harmony

Harmony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

cabhorn

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 5

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 27, 2017

Ship: Harmony of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 6180

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

In general, the cruise was excellent. On-boarding was quick and easy. Stateroom attendant was great. He was from Jamaica so he gave us some pointers on the area.

Haiti was wonderful, the street vendors were extremely pushy, annoyingly so. The rest of the private area was great.

Jamaica was a great stop. The port shopping was easily accessible with decent pricing. The entire island was extremely laid back. "No Problem."

Cozumel was as expected. Very much a tourist stop, but with the Mexican influence. I would definitely go back. Very helpful. We did the Mayan Chocolate Excursion, and well worth the trip.

The Boat - is very large. The food and shows were fantastic. The kids area was good, not great.

Recommendation - If you are going for the kids, go Disney. I am nit-picking, but it just seemed that Royal Caribbean just missed on some great opportunities. Don't expect the overall experience you get with Disney. There seemed to be many areas of the ship that were "wasted." Food places open/closed at inopportune times, meals clashed with shows, bars and pools closed early. Very focused on the adults with drinks and shopping. There seemed to be some good deals if you knew your stuff beforehand.

I would definitely recommend. It really has us planning on doing the next thing.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Make as many reservations as early as possible. Even the my dining. Many people book and never show up, so you can get stand-by seating, but you have to wait in line for those.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

3 out of 5

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

3 out of 5

Falmouth, Jamaica

3 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5

7 Comments

Love2cruise2002 7 years ago

While Royal's service is great Disney just does it a bit better for young ones. It's the small things like all soft drinks/juices included, easily accessible life jackets, full out broadway shows that are interesting to younger kids, split baths in all cabins, chocolates still on pillows, pirate night and fireworks, and some might laugh but even different height sinks and toilets in their public washroom. For families with older kids it probably makes no difference but with younger ones little things like that do. And like cabhorn originally posted just something about the overall level of service is slightly better. Hope that helps. We sail Harmony in August so it will be interesting to see how that compares to the other two Oasis class ships...

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graham123 7 years ago

Question why do you feel Disney is better with kids? what do they do or have is better?

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Love2cruise2002 7 years ago

I have to agree with the Disney part. We haven't sailed Harmony yet but after having sailed Oasis and Allure along with the the Dream and Fantasy, my husband and I prefer Royal but Disney does do it slightly better if you are sailing with young kids.

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MrsPinto 7 years ago

Agree with bars closing too early! Husband and I had to really research what exactly was open beyond midnight.

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graham123 7 years ago

our daughter had awesome time on the cruise. she loved the kids camp. she love going at 5pm to have dinner with the other kids. They have allot of fun activities. she love carousel, face painting, miniature golf, kids water slids. cup cake decorating, breakfast with DreamWorks caritors. ice skating. Disney has old outdated ships. old style of entertainment, dinning with Mickey. and you will pay avg if $2000 more per person. ððð

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Dukeblue 7 years ago

We didn't take advantage of the kids/teen club on our most recent cruise. My daughter stayed with me the entire time and found lots to do. I do agree with you as far as fining/show reservations. In our cruise in December, we ended up going to the MDR only twice. The first night and last night. We wanted to take advantage of the shows, movies and other activities. I also agree that the closing times are a little odd. There's only room service and the Cafe that are 24 hours. Some places close wayyyyyy to early, in my opinion, especially the frozen yogurt stands, when they were even operating properly. Agree again on the vendors in Haiti. Stay away!!!! Only go to the main shops on the island. Do not let them talk you in to going to the 'villages' behind the main shop. Don't do it! Lol

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kknorr0320 7 years ago

Did you travel with kids? Ours love Royal's kids club and the parades in the promenade.

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