We like the Oasis Class ships and have previously been on Allure and Oasis. Harmony felt familiar and is a newer ship so we gave it a try.
It had been about 5 years since our last cruise. We had my Wife and I in one cabin and our 8-year-old daughter and my wife’s mother in a separate cabin. Both were ocean balcony cabins on the 14th deck on opposite sides of the ship (which allowed us to be on an outside balcony on either side of the ship for views).
One cabin (14574) seemed smaller than previous cabins on Allure and Oasis which was a bit of a disappointment. The other cabin (14172) was a disability equipped cabin and was much larger although devoid of a couch and coffee table. There was a small chair and no foot stool in the corner and a small dressing table in another corner along with the bed and two small nightstands on each side. Otherwise it had a lot of open floor space which we enjoyed. The fridges in both cabins barely cooled what we put in them and were not adjustable.
As I read in other recent reviews of this ship, you do feel a bit nickeled and dimed throughout. Room service is no longer free, and we simply ordered none the entire cruise – a first for us. While sitting playing cards in the casino, I was charged nearly $5 for a simple cup of coffee with cream. This particular experience left us feeling shorted and as a result we are going to try Norwegian Cruise Lines for the first time next cruise.
I purchased an Internet and Soda drink plan prior to the cruise and they give you a plastic cup to carry around refill at designated stations. The cup is designed to hold a small amount - very narrow on the bottom up to a wider top. I was agitated the first time I tried to use it in the station. I put some ice in it and Sprite, drank most of it in a few seconds and put the cup back in to top it off. A message came up indicating I had to wait 8 minutes before refilling it - Seriously?! You can use your card in the bar to get soft drinks at no charge and not experience the 10-minute wait time btw. Additionally, I only found 2 stations the entire time I was there - one in the 5 deck pizza parlor and the other in the windjammer buffet. I'm sure there are more but they seem well hidden.
The ice cream machines on Deck 15 were poorly maintained and often closed or frozen up because of not being refilled. This was a particularly disappointing experience for our 8-year-old.
The food in general in the dining room and Windjammer Buffer was pretty good - I think better than our previous cruises.
We purchased 3 meals for 3 people each time at the 150 Central Park, Chops and Wonderland specialty restaurants. 150 Central Park was excellent as was Chops. Great array of appetizers and main courses and great desserts. We probably will not return to Wonderland however. The food there was cute but not particularly tasty. We returned one entry which was fish on top of pretty much plain rice. Not special at all. The Pork Belly was good. One major difference with Wonderland was we were told we could not order extra entree's as you can in the other specialty restaurants. Then we watched the two tables on each side of us receive extra entrees from a different waiter. Just not a good experience there for us.
I also ate in Johnny Rockets and the Sabor Mexican Restaurant for lunch multiple days and even took my 8-year-old to Johnny Rockets once. Both were excellent and you have to pay a flat charge to eat all you want. Sabor was some of the best Mexican cuisine I've had and was surprisingly excellent compared to the Mexican Restaurants on Allure and Oasis. The Park Cafe in Central Park which is no charge was also very good. They had an array of salads, soups, paninis, and delicious roast beef sandwiches on buns. Mini Bites was not as advertised - it just had Hamburgers, hot dogs and fries and such and some desserts – we did not see any mini bites of anything as advertised prior to the cruise. It was OK the one time we ate there.
The little sandwich shop on the promenade deck had good sandwiches and wraps with coffee and tea at no charge – along with desserts and cookies. No soda station there however. We got stuff there late night several times where on other cruises we would have ordered room service – back when it was free. Also, the no charge Pizza Restaurant (Sorretto’s I believe is the name) was good and always had pizza ready – even when getting blasted late night after a major show let out. The girls loved it and we took Pizza back to the room a couple of nights late.
When we first boarded the ship, we went to the Solarium Cafe - which had a smaller buffet than Windjammer but was not crowded and was good - an escape for the crazy busy Windjammer buffet on the first day.
A disappointment was there was no cupcake/ice cream shop on the ship anywhere. Ice cream was a bit hard to come by - especially with the deck 15 ice cream machines being nearly useless the entire cruise. There was ice cream in Windjammer (if you knew about it) and for dessert in the Silk main dining room if you requested it. But typically, small portions. Johnny Rockets has excellent shakes and Sundaes but you have to pay for them. I'm not sure if you can purchase a sundae there without paying for an entire dinner.
We liked the stops - St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee. My wife paid to get a scuba diving certification in the ships PADI center during the cruise - about $600 plus mask and snorkel. She had to get up very early to attend classes at around 7 am on two or three days. I chose not to do such because I enjoy sleeping in on vacation myself. She got to go diving in 4 separate locations as part of the program and the instructors on the ship were very good.
My 8-year-old daughter and a friend's 10-year-old daughter (who are best friends) enjoyed the Adventure Club which is no charge. We were able to get our 8-year-old bumped up to the 9-11-year-old group so she could be with her friend. The center was closed from 5-7 each day as I remember and open until 10 pm. There are options to pay for 5-7 and dinner assistance along with staying I think until 2 am I believe I heard. They played games and crafts. My daughter colored a pillowcase and got all the other kids to sign it for example. They did a parade on the Prominade deck and my daughter got pull out and taken up to the viewing platform looking over the Prominade which was cool.
The ship did not feel crowded the entire time we were there by the way. After the first day it was not unusual for empty elevators to appear. Of course, after shows and at end of excursion time, elevators would fill up. We did anytime dining and made specific reservations for each night in the Silk main dining before the cruise and got in fairly quickly each night. We had a truly marvelous waiter and assistant - Alphan and Cintia. This really made us enjoy the cruise more. Alphan was even able to get us some great Indian food that was not on the menu. My 8-year-old hugged him every night we were there - and she's normally shy.
Our cabins were kept clean and no issues there. We had towel animals nearly every day which my daughter loves. It did take a long time for our bags to appear – maybe around 6 or 7 at night. We made the mistake of not carrying on swim suits and my 8-year-old daughter was very upset she could not go swimming. To make this worse – all of the shops were closed so I could not buy her a swim suit to get her going. I actually asked one of the people distributing bags to look for our bags and described them in detail and never saw him again after he said he would.
My wife stubbed her toe badly in a bathroom on the beach in San Juan when she was scuba diving. We both thought it was broken and she went to the infirmary for an x-ray. Even though it did not occur on Royal Caribbean property, they did all of the x-rays, medical treatment and a soft cast for free which was a nice surprise – because it was part of her scuba training program.
We had to go down to customer service twice. I had purchased an internet package and there were no instructions on how to obtain a code to access such when we checked into our cabin. On the first day of the cruise it was impossible to get anyone in customer service to answer the phone, so I had to go there and they had to call and get a code for internet access. They said I should have received an email with instructions. There were no emails although I showed the email containing the billing for such.
I had a frustrating experience in the arcade. I took advantage before boarding of purchasing two $100 arcade credits for $80 each on the internet site. When we boarded the ship and first went to our cabin there was no mention of such. When we came back to our cabin later, there were two identical letters (one for me and one for my wife) stating we should go to the arcade, show the letters to the attendant and they would take care of us. Problem is there is no attendant in either arcade. There is a phone and number to call - which I did. And you cannot hear the person well because of all the gaming noise. Turns out I had to swipe to Sea Pass card at the machine you purchase credits at - but not purchase anything - and then tell the guy on the phone so he could see it and add credits manually. Then after this mess, the card locked up and stopped working multiple times and I had to repeat the process and call multiple times. The card was locking up because "we were using credits too fast". Then he informed me that there is a $49 daily limit - even though we had $100 on the card. Overall a really terrible experience – especially with two young girls wanting to play.
Service in general was good throughout our cruise (other than the silly arcade experience). We did not experience any poor service or poor attitudes – everyone seemed well trained and happy to assist.
Entertainment was the best we’ve ever had on a cruise. Grease and Columbus were excellent as was the ventriloquist. The Ice-Skating shows were both very good and the Aqua Theatre shows were excellent. The piano player/singer in the Schooner Lounge was great – and he even set up in one of the elevators a couple of times and I was fortunate enough to squish into one and it was great.
Overall, we had a good vacation on this cruise with a couple of bumps as noted above. We really wish that Royal Caribbean was not nickel and diming now for room service and something as basic as coffee in the casino – as well as getting something as simple as a soda when you pay extra for a package. It really cheapened the experience.
