Over Crowded, Stressed Out Crew. A Poorly Managed Ship. At Near Full Capacity This Ship Does Not Work
Harmony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 26, 2018
Ship: Harmony of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 10532
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Pools at 4x capacity, spas at 2x capacity. Absolutely filthy after Day 2. No filtering or cleaning of pools and spas. They just block off the pool or spa and recirculate the water for "cleaning". Dirty scum bubbles in spas after Day 1. No chlorine smell (free chlorine) from pools or spas after Day 1. I witnessed one 'drain and fill' cleaning in the Solarium, ergo, they do not have spa filters. Greasy Windjammer floors for Day 2-3. Cleaned only on Day 4. Captain bragged about 6200 pax at start of cruise. An industry award for fuel efficiency prominently displayed. An elderly woman clutching her chest was put on a stretcher and hustled into an ambulance at St. Thomas. 45 min. departure delay and crew member screaming at dock crew to hurry up and clear the docking equipment. Gotta maintain that fuel efficiency rating ya know. Food was bad Days 1 - 4. Daughter said Carnival food was better for kids. Most of her food she said tasted like "cardboard". I checked it, she was right. Worst was chocolate strudel cake which had chocolate syrup on outside and the black cake as not flavored, i.e. food coloring was used to give chocolate look. The cake wasn't even sweetened. Another piece of decorated cardboard. Advertised dining times in the Cruise planner cut short at the venues via posted dining times which were always shorter than advertised. Day 3 showed up for dinner to Solarium Bistro at 7pm in dress casual (pants for me, dress for daughter). I could not make reservations due to my daughter being 9 y.o. Restaurant was 2/3rds empty and several groups had young children and grownups with shorts. We were turned away due to no reservation and told to come back an hour later. Tell that to a hungry 9 y.o. After that we just did the Windjammer. The one dinner at the Grande MDR my medium rare lamb was rare to raw. I won't eat raw meat so half the lamb went uneaten. Breakfast at the MDR was crazy over-crowded. I had to wait at the cereal station for 10 minutes for a cereal bowl for my daughter to come out of the dishwasher. Only show we were able to attend was Columbus due to booking it 3 months out. 3 weeks out I tried to book other shows (ice skating, aqua theater, etc.) and no reservations were available. Daughter had to wait until Day 6-7 to do Flow Rider and Rock wall since both were closed Days 1-3 and the lines on Day 4-5 were way too long (sunburn and dehydration). I could go on and on and on but I'll just say this ship does not work over 4,000 pax. I will never book another Oasis class cruise unless it is half empty. And probably not even then. Crew was over worked, and stressed. Saw crewmembers working multiple venues, even one who had broken her wrist on the cruise. Many had bags under their eyes. Only cabin attendants had efficient routines and did not appear over worked. However, we locked ourselves out of our cabin one time. Another room attendant who did not have a key to our room called our room attendant via radio explaining we needed to get into the room. Our room attendant refused. Had to get maintenance crew to let us in. Called the ship customer service several times for inquiries but phone was never answered. Just on hold. Placed on speakerphone and after 10 min.s hungup. On Day 3 at breakfast time, waiting for the daughter to wakeup I considered ordering room service and having breakfast on our balcony. I S-You-Not, no more than 5 minutes later a bunch of water splashes all over the front of our balcony soaking the railing, table, foot rests and chairs. Good thing I didn't order room service. Later that day our TV has message that tomorrow the ship will be washed and to avoid the balcony. Well, that went on for 3 days and always starting at breakfast. Couldn't they have picked a better time? Yes, they could have. All in all this was a poorly managed ship and cruise. Very poor efficiency and facilities. Who the Heck designs a pool for a cruise ship with a filtration/cleaning system that only allows 21 ppl in the pool? We consistently counted over 80 ppl in the pool water. Can you say e-coli, gardia, etc.? I would not allow my daughter in the pools after Day 3 or in the spas after Day 6 and then only the Solarium spas. I'm giving RCI one more chance on the Brilliance in October to see if it was a ship thing or just how they run their ships. But seriously, the Carnival Paradise, a 20+ y.o. ship, had better service, a cleaner pool, friendlier more helpful and more considerate crew and routines. And we never had to make reservations to get into shows. No more Oasis class for us unless they're at half-capacity! Poorly designed, poorly executed and poorly managed ship. Inefficiencies and bad routines everywhere I looked. And for 2.5x the cost of our previous Carnival cruises to boot!Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Reserve EVERYTHING as far in advance as you can.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Disembarkation
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