Huge Disappointment

Harmony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 57

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Harmony of the Seas

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 03, 2017

Ship: Harmony of the Seas

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 9526

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

This is the 2nd cruise within 1.5 years on Royal Caribbean that we have been extremely disappointed in.  The Harmony is a huge beautiful ship & the shows were great. The food and the service was horrible. The MY TIME Dining never worked for our group. Lines were too long & the wait was ridiculous!  I tried to book specialty restaurants before we left and nothing was available until after 9pm!  That never worked with all our shows we had reserved. This forced our group to break up & eat at different times. The Bar Service was horrible and there were hardly any servers on the pool decks. We had to go seek out our own drinks. I honestly feel that since RC started the auto gratuities being added to your onboard account has taken away the drive and desire for servers. We had 23 people in our group & everyone feels exactly the same way.  I honestly don't think we will ever take another RC cruise again.  It's very sad how the cruise industry has changed and is all about the numbers not the customer service.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
I actually had 2 cabins in our family 9594. Our cabin steward in 9594 Barris was very attentive and on the spot. We never had to ask for anything. He always had us covered with our needs.

Ship tip

DON"T DO MY TIME DINING! You'll never eat! They were not very accommodating to our group of family & friends

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

1 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

3 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

2 out of 5

Labadee (Cruise Line Private Island)

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 57

10 Comments

rickbvan    7 years ago

guycollin    7 years ago

problem was your planning I've cruising with RC and no issue what so ever... Planning long time in advance is the key!

BoatSwainMate    7 years ago

Sorry to hear your experience onboard The Harmony wasn't to your liking. We went on our cruise in November and we had a blast. This was my first cruise with RC, the food compared to Carnival was night and day. We had a large group as well. Our dining time was set for 8:00 each night, this allowed us time to take showers to prepare for dinner after our excursions. Our server was great, we had two tables which accommodated my group. I spent a lot of my time in Windjammer, again the food was good. We declined the auto gratuity and paid them directly. I must say even with 6000 guests it didn't seem crowded. Checking onboard the ship was a breeze. We were allowed to board early, however our stateroom wasn't ready so we grabbed some food from Windjammer and ate by the pool. So when our staterooms were ready the only issue we had was tracking down our luggage. They delivered to the right floor but not necessarily to the right room... We started out sailing with Carnival but I don't think we're going back. Our next cruise will be onboard the Liberty of The Seas in September, the countdown is on.

seasickcyndi    7 years ago

following

talleydiva    7 years ago

Sorry for your bad experience....

NjAllDay    7 years ago

I've sailed with RC 12 times and it's always a pleasure. I always do the late seating dinner. You have more time on the islands or have more time on the pool. It's especially nice in the afternoon when everyone is leaving to get ready for dinner. You have that bit of quiet time where it's not as crowded around the pools or bars. For me, I don't feel like the crew is lacking after the auto gratuities. They seem just as pleasant as they've always been. Also, you can decline the auto gratuities and pay how you'd like.

Dukeblue    7 years ago

Sorry that things didn't work out for your group. We always do my time dining and everything works perfectly, for us. With that being said, we only have groups of 2-9. I'm assuming the issue was that there were 23 people in your group and with 6,000 people on board, seating can become scarce. Most nights we decided on eating at the Windjammer and one night ate at Sabor as there was no wait.

SLadventures17    7 years ago

I so hate to hear. this is our first time cruising with Royal Carribean and I have been looking forward to this for years now I'm nervous..

drv12166    7 years ago

We were just on the harmony and it was fantastic. No issues with service or dining. Sorry you had a bad experience. Specialty dining has to be booked way in advance, if you wait you will encounter the restaurants only having a 9:00 opening. We tried the my time dining and will not do it again. You better off having a set time and table. Your servers will learn as the week passes what you like and don't like. Our server Rafael was impeccable.

cupofjoe18    7 years ago

To be fair, you have to make your specialty dining reservations pretty far in advance because the best times get taken quickly.

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