Overall a great trip!
Harmony of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 52
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 09, 2019
Ship: Harmony of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 11456
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
I really enjoyed this trip. The Harmony is an amazing ship and it always impresses me how the crew is able to keep everything running smoothly in the background. Things just seem happen like magic. The food could have been a little bit better, the room a little bit bigger, and the send off a little less "get out we have a boat to turn around" but I'd do the whole thing again. I probably should have paid a bit more money at the beginning to upgrade my experiences and I wouldn't have anything to complain about.Embarkation
Very nice. We boarded very quickly and our luggage was at the room exactly on time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The main dining area food was good, but the menu selection was limited and mostly static. There's a steak, there's a fish, there are some sides but its all mostly basic. On the second formal night there was lobster tail and it was wonderful. Other than that we ended up eating dinner in the Windjammer or just grabbing pizza. The buffet in the Windjammer is decent but not great. The best food I found in there was the fajita tacos on the Mexican food day. I like all of my food really really spicy and I would have loved to have had some spicy Asian and Mexican foods more readily available outside of the one day each they are presented. The pastas were good but the sauces for them didn't have alot of flavor, but that is typical for a buffet though. Breakfast in the Windjammer is good but mostly the same every day. I used the omelet station at Mini-Bites for breakfast most days, but they didn't have any jalepenos or serranos so my only option for spice was tabasco type sauces which I don't really like. All in all I didn't go hungry but I felt like the specialty dining restaurants were being marketed pretty hard by the general "meh" of everything else. BUt you can't take me the wrong way, the chef's and kitchen staff busted their buts to feed all 6000 or however many of us were on board and they deserve to be commended. Its not possible to satisfy so many different tastes with all of the different food cultures coming from all over the country to go on vacation.
Onboard Activities
This question is hard to answer. I was very excited by all of the activities on board and I think I did just about everything at least once. That's the bad part. I wanted to do the rock walls and flowrider more but it seemed like every time I went they were closed or completely swamped. I don't know what the solution to that would be, they already have two flowriders and one of them was split in 2 to take on more volume. I also found that I was having to pick carefully between wet and dry activities. You have to have socks to do zip line and rock wall but you have to be in swimsuit and swimsuit only to do the flow riders and you have to have shorts and shirt that covers your shoulders to do the slide. I got the wristband seapass so that I wouldn't need a lanyard or pockets but I had to take it off for the flowrider. It seemed like I was always walking back and forth to gather up all of my junk and change clothes no matter how light I tried to travel the ship. Another Problem is the soda package cup. The way they work now there is an RFID chip or something in the cup that the soda machines recognize to activate. Without that cup the only way you can get a soda is at a bar or from a waiter so you have to pick between waiting in line thirsty or carrying that cup with you everywhere you go in addition to socks and sunglasses and sunblock and seapass cards.
Entertainment
This part was awesome. We watched every single one of the shows on board at least once. One of them I wasn't amazed by but it was the style of it and not the production or performance so its my own preference that keeps it from having full marks. The comedians were great, the aqua theater is incredible and the theater performances were awesome, especially the ice skating show. No complaints.
Children's Programs
My 5 kids all loved the teen area. They had engaging events and my kids made lots of friends. They might could use a tad bit more supervision because I caught a couple making out on a couch as I was walking by it one day. My biggest problem was getting the kids to leave the area for family events.
Service and Staff
This part was incredible. Staff service was great the whole time. There was one night that we had a server in main dining that you could tell was cracking under the pressure of being so busy. There was another incident where someone manning the zip line was acting a little bit irritated but it turned out that the zip line was supposed to be shutting down at the time and he was probably going to be late to his next post before he got through the line.
Ship Quality
Its amazing how neat and clean everything is kept with so many people constantly messing it up. The central park area, the boardwalk and the promenade were awe inspiring. All of the living plants were cool and the decorations were really interesting.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was kept completely clean for the entire trip. It was way too small though. We had 4 people and there's no way to make it work comfortably. The room had two twin beds that could be pushed together to make a queen. There was a little sofa that converted into one bed with a little trundle that pulled out of the bottom of that. With all of the beds made up you couldn't walk from the back of the room to the front where the bathroom is without walking literally on top of the pullout bed. On top of the sleeping bodies was our luggage. In my room I had the 3 teenage boys with me and we all pack super light on trips. Even so we didn't have enough closet space, hangers and drawers to put of our stuff so we had piles of clothes stacked on the desk and stuffed under the back beds and things like that. In the last boat we were on they had a bunk-bed type arrangement that folded out of the walls above the normal beds and that worked out really well. I wouldn't book an interior stateroom like the one we had for more than 2 people, maybe 3 if one of them is a very small child.
Ship tip
Pay for the extra dining packages, bring synthetic socks for the extreme activities that will dry quickly, bring some kind of bag you can carry your stuff in that you can clip or lock to a post when you're in the water, pay extra for a suite or an additional stateroom so you can have room if you have more than 2 people in your group. Reserve spots for shows early because they fill up quick. Parking at the port is expensive. Park somewhere else and Uber.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We went to the kennedy space center the day before we boarded. It was nice but it is really an all day or 2 day activity if you're really interested in space.
Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas
We used this as a beach day. We had parasailing booked but it was cancelled due to weather. The beaches were nice but they had no inflatables or anything to play on. Renting snorkles and stuff was incredibly expensive compared to anywhere else I've been. The food at the Chill Grill was honestly the best food of the entire cruise to me. I felt a bit let down with it overall. The island seems to mainly be a waterpark. If you don't get that waterpark or jet ski excursion you'll probably get bored.
The hurricanes smashed this place up a bit so its not pristine as far as the eye can see, but its still beautiful. I took the braver boys with me to do flyboarding and it was great. The staff at the place was incredibly accommodating as they taught us to basically fly a hoverboard 30 feet above the ocean. I highly recommend it. The rest of the family did a pirate history tour that was very interesting and entertaining. They had a spot on Jack Sparrow impersonator there and the kids loved it.
This place was way cleaner than St Thomas. We did the sea trek excursion here where you put on a diving helmet and walk along the bottom of the ocean without getting your hair wet. Scuba divers collect interesting sea life for you and you get to hold it. Also have sunken ships and stuff to look at. Make sure you can pop your ears before you go. One girl couldn't and she wasn't able to descend all the way to the bottom. It was my favorite part of the cruise and now I want to go get scuba certified.
Disembarkation
Depressing. But it can't be helped. It's like taking the last walk around an empty house when you move out. Everything that has been bustling and full of music and laughter shuts down and looks like a haunted house. I wish there was a way that you could get off the boat in the middle of the day and activities were still open for a few hours before you had to leave. For me it seems like the universe shouting "your vacation is over now get the hell out". I don't think they could pull that off though. The turnaround of the ship is such a big deal they'd end up having to spend a night in port to allow for the entertaining of the guests for those few extra hours. Alas...