Anniversary Celebration cruise. Nice ship, but not for us again

We had a 12:00 check in time for the ship. Were in the terminal at about that time. Checked in and went right on the ship. 20 minutes from head of the line to on the ship. First time on the Harmony and the Oasis class ships. Wow, this was big. Rooms were not yet available, was told about 2:00 to 3:00. No biggie, we wanted to see the ship. We were hungry so we were aimed to the Solarium Bistro. Got off on the 14th and head aft instead of forward, and ended up at Mini bites. This did the job, and was not really anyone around. Done with that, we went forward to find out where we should have been. Pools looked nice as we passed by. About this time, we heard the rooms were released to us. Off to drop the hand-carry items. We were told there was 5,300 on board for this sailing.

150 Central Park. Fun fact: was told this was 150 meters from the bow and 150 meters from the stern. We ate our first dinner on the ship here (as we were celebrating our anniversary). Only 4 couples were in here the first night (Tip for eating at the specialty places?) Menu was fantastic, and the paired martini was out of this world Main Dining room. The food here is really good. And the wait staff was even better. Portions are still a good size. Left each time full. However, after day 4 we were sending the bread basket back (we would fill up on the bread before the entrees came) Park Café. Great for grab and go, or an afternoon cup of coffee (As we did most days). Did have the requisite Roast Beef Sandwich. Yes, it was good. Chef’s table. I was looking forward to the Chef’s table. As we had been to a previous one. The food was great, as it always has been. The event was great, as we had people from the US, England, Denmark and Mexico in attendance. My issue was the continued menu items from the previous time we attended. The soup was great, again. If fact I asked for and received the recipe last time. And the World dessert, was good, but served again. Was hoping for a change in menu. Would I do this again? Not without a change in the menu. I very much enjoy the experience. However, would like to see a change of menu. Solarium Bistro. This was supposed to be our first lunch. But missed it. Good food. No kids. A smaller selection then the Windjammer. Wind Jammer. Food was good to great the whole week. Breakfast, lunch was done here. Breakfast even had fresh-made avocado toast, which I then took to the fried egg station to top is off (3 breakfasts). Bacon was extremely plentiful. Covid protocols here were non impacting.

Zip-Line; did this. The Ultimate Abyss; did this. Rising Tide Bar. Nice and relaxing. But it did have its ups and downs. Solarium. Great place. Especially early in the morning. Hot when not moving, breezy, when under way. Would like to see this changed to 18 plus. 16 year-olds are not adults. King of the world. Neat find

Absolutely hate the reservations. Was able to walk up and get into to the Hideaway aqua show on day 4. Just show up 10 to 15 minutes early. Enjoyed the four guys (forgot the name) headliner show. Grease was a fairly good show.

Our wait staff in the evening was great at table 168. Edsil was attentive. However, Deepu was fantastic. Very attentive, and helpful. He even went out of his way to greet and spend some time with us in the Windjammer during breakfast. Deepu’s service to us this past week was extremely commendable.

Close to the elevators and one floor up from the Central Park (we ended up here a lot this week). This is a very nice room. We even could not fill the drawers, there is so much room. The balcony was large, with two chairs and ottoman, along with a table. Very nice room.

I was very disappointed with the departure on 12/26/21. The idea was good. However, the execution was not good. What was lacking was communications. To the housekeeping staff AND the passengers. We had an 8:40 departure time (36) we got off the ship at 10:00 am. I heard there was a medical emergency. I can understand the delay. This could have been communicated over the ship-wide PA that the slow down was due to this. We did stay in our room until the time on Channel 27 changed to include our departure number. This was all the remaining numbers from the ship. This was at 9:50 or so. I can understand the delays, but let us know.