Review from our Harmony 7 night with family of 4.... was expecting more

[johnnyblz20]

We just returned from a 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Harmony of the Seas. We had only done 1 other RCCL trip before with just the adults so this was the first with our two kids 15D and 7yr old son. We were expecting to be blow away with all the activities and things to do on the boat for the family but were very disappointed. Just about everything for kids closed around 5-6pm at night so after dinner there was really nothing else for us all to do together except the 1 broadway show Grease we did on day 2 and kids clubs.

One big plus I will give to Royal was the kids club. My kids when they were around 3-5yrs old had issues at the disney clubs since they pair kids 3-12 into the club and on every cruise the kids would tell us how the older kids would push around the other kids or not let them do stuff. We confronted the disney staff EVERY time we cruised about this but it literally occurred on every cruise and other friends have all said the same thing about the disney clubs regarding younger kids. The Royal kids club while looking very plain and basically just one large room allowed my son to have a blast and he stayed there for 4+ hours several different days in the week.

All the water slides closed by 6pm regardless of weather and all pools except one was open after 6pm. The Abyss slide which is a slide that you wear normal clothing closed at 5pm. The daily compass paper we got and the app had a ton of "Things to do" but literally it only involved adults in the bars, adult only comedy bars, and some karaoke in some places.

We have done 6 Disney cruises and wanted to switch things up and try something new because we had seen the Disney shows so much that we knew them pretty well, and felt what better way than to do one of the biggest ships in the world. Don't get me wrong the boat is huge and does have things to do but we were use to seeing a show almost every night like on Disney and on this boat you only get Grease. There are the ice skating show 1887 and a freestyle ice show but didn't think they were anything special to be honest. The overall vibe we got after getting off this boat was there just wasn't much to do for all of us as a family after dinner.

The cruise was good and we had a great week, but all the little things that happened throughout the cruise just added up too much. The cruise staff were nice but they barely talked to us at dinners or had much interaction with our kids other than filling up their drinks. Nobody was rude by any means but they do not go above and beyond here. One night we asked a worker at the pool why the waterslide was closed at 630 even though the paper said 7pm he just said "we closed at 6pm." Then just said sorry and turned around. This was the common theme going around the boat when asking about different things that the app or papers would say are open to a certain time or food on a menu that was not in the windjammer.

Would we do this cruise or another Royal cruise again?... probably, but it would probably just be an adults only cruise or wait another 6-7 years until my son is a teenager and my daughter was an adult. If you are looking for a nice cruise, decent food (I do give the edge to disney EXCEPT the Indian food on royal was amazing and something you don't get with disney), more water slides (if you're ok with them closing real early), and just a relaxing week then this boat and royal is really just fine. Thinking back and comparing it to the Disney ones we just prefer the "Extras" you get with Disney like the over the top service, personalities and interactions with the staff, fireworks, and more shows. I am not a Disney die hard but it is just something we have realized we definitely prefer over the royal type shows.

Feel free if you have any specific questions that I maybe didn't address in this short review and I would be happy to explain or help answer.

 

[spiffgirl101]

We just returned from a 7 night Eastern Caribbean on the Harmony of the Seas. We had only done 1 other RCCL trip before with just the adults so this was the first with our two kids 15D and 7yr old son. We were expecting to be blow away with all the activities and things to do on the boat for the family but were very disappointed. Just about everything for kids closed around 5-6pm at night so after dinner there was really nothing else for us all to do together except the 1 broadway show Grease we did on day 2 and kids clubs.

One big plus I will give to Royal was the kids club. My kids when they were around 3-5yrs old had issues at the disney clubs since they pair kids 3-12 into the club and on every cruise the kids would tell us how the older kids would push around the other kids or not let them do stuff. We confronted the disney staff EVERY time we cruised about this but it literally occurred on every cruise and other friends have all said the same thing about the disney clubs regarding younger kids. The Royal kids club while looking very plain and basically just one large room allowed my son to have a blast and he stayed there for 4+ hours several different days in the week.

All the water slides closed by 6pm regardless of weather and all pools except one was open after 6pm. The Abyss slide which is a slide that you wear normal clothing closed at 5pm. The daily compass paper we got and the app had a ton of "Things to do" but literally it only involved adults in the bars, adult only comedy bars, and some karaoke in some places.

We have done 6 Disney cruises and wanted to switch things up and try something new because we had seen the Disney shows so much that we knew them pretty well, and felt what better way than to do one of the biggest ships in the world. Don't get me wrong the boat is huge and does have things to do but we were use to seeing a show almost every night like on Disney and on this boat you only get Grease. There are the ice skating show 1887 and a freestyle ice show but didn't think they were anything special to be honest. The overall vibe we got after getting off this boat was there just wasn't much to do for all of us as a family after dinner.

The cruise was good and we had a great week, but all the little things that happened throughout the cruise just added up too much. The cruise staff were nice but they barely talked to us at dinners or had much interaction with our kids other than filling up their drinks. Nobody was rude by any means but they do not go above and beyond here. One night we asked a worker at the pool why the waterslide was closed at 630 even though the paper said 7pm he just said "we closed at 6pm." Then just said sorry and turned around. This was the common theme going around the boat when asking about different things that the app or papers would say are open to a certain time or food on a menu that was not in the windjammer.

Would we do this cruise or another Royal cruise again?... probably, but it would probably just be an adults only cruise or wait another 6-7 years until my son is a teenager and my daughter was an adult. If you are looking for a nice cruise, decent food (I do give the edge to disney EXCEPT the Indian food on royal was amazing and something you don't get with disney), more water slides (if you're ok with them closing real early), and just a relaxing week then this boat and royal is really just fine. Thinking back and comparing it to the Disney ones we just prefer the "Extras" you get with Disney like the over the top service, personalities and interactions with the staff, fireworks, and more shows. I am not a Disney die hard but it is just something we have realized we definitely prefer over the royal type shows.

Feel free if you have any specific questions that I maybe didn't address in this short review and I would be happy to explain or help answer.

I definitely agree with you on the kids clubs. My son wasn't a big fan of the Disney kids club, but LOVED the RC kids club when he was 6.
We love Disney cruises, but simply can't afford more than a 4 day cruise with them.
I heard RCL is having a hard time with getting enough staff since the cruise re-start, which could explain the early closures and brief staff interactions.
We are not cruising until April next year and will have one 13 yr old son with us. Hopefully things will have improved by then!
I will miss the nightly shows that Disney puts on.
Thanks for your honest review!

 

[myth2001]

We were on the Oasis for 7 days with my 5 year old this Feb.
She actually loved all the shows! (Cats, magic show, ice skate show, and especially the aqua show, which she went to almost every showing).
So we never ran into the issue of having nothing to do, rather she refused to go to kids club and just want to go to another show.
Maybe you were looking for a different show every night?

 

[lelew]

Thanks for your review I will going on my first RCCL in Aug and will have a 16 year old with me. What was most of the teens doing on the boat for fun? Thanks in advance

 

[browneyedgirl1683]

I was underwhelmed by my recent Oasis cruise. My kid liked the camp, my toddler let herself be babysat, and both girls basically would have spent all day in the playroom with the little slides and things to climb on if I let them. Pizza, playroom, older daughter loved splashaway bay--- that was my cruise for the most part. I couldn't get the kids to do the family based activities, and the ones that seemed interesting were way tooo packed. Aqua80 amazed my older daughter, my toddler legit wanted to spend her outdoor time on the balcony pretending to be a pirate.

I think I preferred spending that same $$$ on a land based Disney vacation. I would try DCL but we can't do both, so I'll wait for that post-vacation glow to see what my kids reallllly want to do. Between the stress of testing for covid, and the stress of testing everyone upon return I think I'm OK waiting to sail for a while.

 

[sethschroeder]

I was on the Quantum back in June '22.

decent food (I do give the edge to disney EXCEPT the Indian food on royal was amazing and something you don't get with disney)

Did you do any of the specialty dining? The draw of the larger ship to me is the unlimited dining and I would work that in to the math of the cruise.

Also have you been on Disney since shutdown? I found the food was a step back prior to shutdown. With Royal I thought it was very average like the Disney MDRs but what gave the edge to Royal was the specialty dining options (we got 2 included through our big box TA) which were in-line with specialty dining at WDW quality.

One big plus I will give to Royal was the kids club.

This was out experience. Maybe Disney will be different in the future but my oldest (4yo) was not a fan of how Disney was structured. On Royal they were great with both kids had lots of fun. I will say though my kids only have experience with Disney post covid back December.

Just about everything for kids closed around 5-6pm at night so after dinner there was really nothing else for us all to do together except the 1 broadway show Grease we did on day 2 and kids clubs.

Downside for us as well although being in Alaska and the time change after dinner they wouldn't have been up for doing a ton anyways. I did find Royal basically had no "family" stuff to do on the Quantum class of ship. Part of the draw of the larger ship you were on was possibly more variety at least and I know some of them have the carousel.

 

[sethschroeder]

Thanks for your review I will going on my first RCCL in Aug and will have a 16 year old with me. What was most of the teens doing on the boat for fun? Thanks in advance

What ship are you on?

What I found is that teens likely have the most fun on Royal out of any age group. There are activities they can do with you but we often found them hanging out in groups around the teen area and they lots of teen based activities it seemed scheduled for that age ground around the ship.

This was on a Quantum style ship though so you may see its a little different on your ship.

Likely depends on your child though in the end.

To note on the Quantum they even had special times for bump cars and a laser tag if I remember right. We don't have teens so I only saw it at a glance in the schedule.

 

[lelew]

What ship are you on?

What I found is that teens likely have the most fun on Royal out of any age group. There are activities they can do with you but we often found them hanging out in groups around the teen area and they lots of teen based activities it seemed scheduled for that age ground around the ship.

This was on a Quantum style ship though so you may see its a little different on your ship.

Likely depends on your child though in the end.

To note on the Quantum they even had special times for bump cars and a laser tag if I remember right. We don't have teens so I only saw it at a glance in the schedule.

Thanks, we are sailing Harmony in Aug. I never been on Royal line but did Disney three times years ago when my teen was little. I dont know what to expect because I couldn't find many videos about teens on Harmony. I am just hoping there plenty for her to do because we are on there for 7 nights.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Thanks for your review. We are scheduled to sail on Harmony this coming weekend. I'm nervous as this is our first cruise. My parents and brother's family (elementary age kids) seem to prefer Royal for family cruises, and they're joining us, so this seemed like the right choice. My teens wanted nothing to do with DCL (also want nothing to do with Royal's "kid" clubs), so we'll have to see how they feel once all is said and done. I will say that they seem more excited about mocktails, milkshakes, late night at Sorrento's and soft serve...so maybe we'll be good?

 

[sethschroeder]

also want nothing to do with Royal's "kid" clubs

I would encourage them to go at least the first night. Unless they are total introverts and even possibly then for the first night. Dont have teens but just from everything I read and what I saw on the ship.

They likely will make a couple additional friends and then they can do what they want the full week. Also you would have to check but like I said it would give them a chance to do things otherwise they would need to try and reserve or have a long line for much easier like possibly the flowrider, zipline, or other things.

I'm nervous as this is our first cruise.

You will have a great time.

My suggestion for any cruise line is do a sit down breakfast IMO not the buffet if possible. Its really helps set a relaxing time for the day instead of dealing with the chaotic buffets.

Also if you haven't gotten the Royal app you can actually change your view to the current cruise to see what the schedule of events and such are like. It can really help you taken in some of the offerings while you are sitting at home instead of on the ship.

 

[johnnyblz20]

I would encourage them to go at least the first night. Unless they are total introverts and even possibly then for the first night. Dont have teens but just from everything I read and what I saw on the ship.

They likely will make a couple additional friends and then they can do what they want the full week. Also you would have to check but like I said it would give them a chance to do things otherwise they would need to try and reserve or have a long line for much easier like possibly the flowrider, zipline, or other things.



You will have a great time.

My suggestion for any cruise line is do a sit down breakfast IMO not the buffet if possible. Its really helps set a relaxing time for the day instead of dealing with the chaotic buffets.

Also if you haven't gotten the Royal app you can actually change your view to the current cruise to see what the schedule of events and such are like. It can really help you taken in some of the offerings while you are sitting at home instead of on the ship.

We tried to do breakfast two different mornings in the sit down restaurant on the Harmony and the lines were insane which required us to just go up to Windjammers.

 

[johnnyblz20]

Thanks for your review. We are scheduled to sail on Harmony this coming weekend. I'm nervous as this is our first cruise. My parents and brother's family (elementary age kids) seem to prefer Royal for family cruises, and they're joining us, so this seemed like the right choice. My teens wanted nothing to do with DCL (also want nothing to do with Royal's "kid" clubs), so we'll have to see how they feel once all is said and done. I will say that they seem more excited about mocktails, milkshakes, late night at Sorrento's and soft serve...so maybe we'll be good?

Both of my kids 15 and 7 drank so many Pina coladas and Miami vice virgin drinks this cruise. They loved them.

 

[CaleCakes]

I just got off the Liberty yesterday and I too can say that I was expecting more. There were a lot of things that made me go . This was our 3rd time on RCCL, and have been on several Celebrity and Princess ships. My travel group consists of me, DH, DS7, DD4, my parents, and this time my aunt and her friend came along. We do enjoy cruising, don't go into it looking for michelin star meals, don't go looking for issues, and don't really ask much of the staff. Also I knew going into this that the ship needs to go to drydock. I am ok with chipped paint here and there and some raggedy looking carpets, but I was taken aback by a few things I saw. Here is my review:

Cabins- Me, DH, and the kids have only stayed in 1 bedroom grand suites on Royal. For booking purposes we booked the grand suite with my parents assigned to the room so they too would have access to the suite lounge and amenities. The kids were booked in a junior suite- which was supposed to be a connecting room. It wasn't until we got onboard that we realized the rooms were not connecting. How did the booking agent allow me to book a 7 and 4 year old in their own room without and adult if it wasn't connected or even adjacent? I thought that was a rule or something? It really didn't matter because we did have the balcony divider opened so we used that rather than going into the hallway. My parents occupied the junior suite while my 4 occupied the grand suite. My aunt and her friend had a regular balcony a few doors down. The regular balcony room is ridiculously small, the junior suite is a nice size, and the grand suite has more than enough room for us. Immediately upon entering my cabin I noticed the couch was severely stained. I put 2 towels down before allowing anyone to sit on it. The rest of the week it stayed opened like a bed with several layers of sheets down and a duvet. One of the lamp sconces near the bed was dangling off the wall, the 2 table top lamps had shades that were broken, there were a few light bulbs missing in the ceiling, the curtains were very difficult to open/close because the track was all jacked up, and the slider door was very hard to open. In the night on 2 nights the lamp and over the bed lights came on in the middle of the night when the whole room was asleep. That was creepy. Oh and the air conditioned definitely wasn't working properly- it was stuffy in there all there time- enough that my mother noticed and she hates the AC. You may be asking why we didn't speak up to have things fixed or be moved- the main reason is stated above. I was close to other party members and picked this cabin location for a reason. Although noticeable head scratchers, we are only there for a week and didn't want to a) waste my time with maintenance, and b) have randoms in and out of my room trying to fix stuff all week. I can't really comment on the state of the other cabins my group had. They didn't say anything and I didn't spend any significant time in their rooms to see anything. Collectively we all agreed that the beds and pillows were terrible- hard and uncomfortable. I have never had leg pain laying down in bed before experiencing the bed in my cabin last week.

Food- I realize everyone has a different option about food whether it be quality, taste, whatever. The food was just ok. Nothing great, nothing really that terrible. We ate in the main dining room just about every night. Our table staff was friendly, learned our names and likes quickly. Brought fruit cups and cheese plates for the kids nightly. They genuinely wanted to make sure we were satisfied. If we didn't like something we just stopped eating it and moved on. I have 2 complaints about the main dining room for dinner- service was very slow (both lunch and dinner), and (I'm ready to get flamed here) people's attire. I get it, it's a cruise, you (not actually you the reader) paid for it, you don't want people telling you how to dress. Ok, but would it be so terrible to bring 1 pair of khakis and 1 polo shirt or black pants and a few blouses to wear all week? Would it be so terrible to take your ballcap off? Those cut off shorts and midriff shirt were the only option you had in your suitcase? I don't do the whole evening gown, cocktail dress, suit thing anymore. But I do wear a pair of black pants and a selection of shirts to mix. I truly feel this is on the staff to stop people at the door and say hey there is a simple dress code to have dinner in the main dining room. Eat elsewhere or order something to go. Didn't ruin my trip but it was noticeable. Moving on to other venues, we did eat a windjammer one breakfast and one evening for dinner. It wasn't that crowded either time. Breakfast observation is that no staff came around to offer coffee or juice. Dinner observation is no staff cleared any plates off the table while we were dining. I remember the days when plates were cleared right away when you were done eating or going back for more. We had a few breakfasts in Chops as a suite perk. The menu is the same everyday but you can get other items or do as we did and run out to windjammer to grab whatever we wanted. We mostly sat in there to avoid the business of the windjammer. We had Johnny Rocket's one day for lunch. Wish I knew ahead of time they were out of onion rings and the fountain machine only offered Dr. Pepper. Bummer. Lunch was ok despite these missing items- a Dr. Pepper float is like a Root Beer float- sort of. We also went up there a few times for milk shakes to go as we had the refreshment package. Room service was my favorite meal option. Although super slow one day (taking 90 minutes to come). The chicken wings, tomato soup, and cheesecake are very good as is the Royal burger. Too many fries though- fries with everything. Soft serve by the pool was nice- had decent hours something like 11a-5 or 6pm. The lines are long initially but then die down when people have had at least 4 cones each. We visited the suite lounge once for hors d'oeuvres. The offerings were fine and it was nice to have something different like cocktail meatballs, and some flatbreads. They do offer beer and cocktails from 4-8. DH and my parents had a few drinks which was a nice perk. The kids had Sorrento's on the first day- I have never been a fan but I know some love it. That's cool. We also had a few items from Café Promenade- mostly coffee which was consistent and the staff knew my name and order when I walked up which was a nice touch. I pre-booked Chops lunch before boarding but ended up cancelling day of as the rest of my party didn't feel like going . Went to guest services to cancel and was told the refund would go back to the original form of payment which should have been my bank card. Reality is that it showed up as a credit on my mothers onboard statement. We can deal with that at home. I think that is all the food we had onboard. So yeah, everything was fine just not super memorable.

Activities- Echoing what the OP said, there is really not much for kids to do on the ship after dinner especially younger kids. I'll start with tearing apart the arcade. My kids are young, 7 and 4, and they like arcades so I repurchased 100 dollars on each card for the price of 160 total. Well that would have been perfect if not for the fact that half if not more of the games in the small arcade do not work. Either they don't work completely, you swipe and nothing happens, they are missing balls (think skee-ball and bowling), the claw games are IMPOSSIBLE to actually get a prize because the stuffies are too heavy, I could go on and on about the arcade. It really made me mad. So after 5 nights in a row of suffering through the post dinner trips to the arcade, I went to guest services to request a refund. Agent phones a manager who comes on the line to tell me that since I bought the credits at a discount I would only get 4 dollars back. Stupid me didn't think to ask about the other kids card. So one card still had $24 while the other had $49. I would have taken the refund on the $49 had I asked! $29 is better than the pain of going back to the arcade. In the long run we ended up spending 2 more post dinner trips to the arcade to waste the rest of the credits in exchange for a bunch of junky prizes from the prize vault (that is also annoying btw). Anyone want a plastic bobblehead dog? I have 12 to spare. Oh oh and let me add this as a warning- when you have exhausted the prepaid/preloaded monies on the card it doesn't give you any sort of fair warning it simple says something like you are all set to have fun. Yeah well if you get that message just know every swipe is now a charge to your seapass card. I ended up with $11.50 more in charges on my cards. Overall the arcade is a waste and I highly recommend skipping it. As far as shows, we did do the ice skating show one night which was great. Both kids were mesmerized. The skaters did great and it was a fun time. We skipped Saturday night fever. The kids pools close at 5 or 6 which is way too early. The main pool was murky by day 4 so no thanks. Unless I sent the kids to the kids club there was not much else to do around the ship in the evening. We did shuffle board one night and they had rock climbing in the dark one evening which was fun for the 7 year old who scaled the wall in minutes. Other than that we went back to the cabin early each night. Speaking of rock climbing- I do not recommend the morning session offerings as the wall and gripes are burning hot. 7 year old experienced this and was not happy and the staff even said to avoid the morning. Umm ok why offer it if you know it's scalding hot? Speaking of rock climbing staff- they had an afternoon session on the last day from 2:15-4:30p. Got there at 4:25 and was told they already closed the line to allow for adult speed climbing. There were 3 adults in line. I get it we barely made the end time but we did still have 5 minutes- and the guy said no to a 7 year old. To me that is poor customer service. We were unable to use the flowrider or the aft slides. Didn't know there was a height limit on either one- wish I knew this going in (probably missed reading that somewhere) as I wouldn't have even have shown the kids the activity. The kids splash are with slides is nice however there are 2 slides with height limits. The purple slide which is legit 8 feet off the ground with 1 little turn was denied to my 4 year old by 1 attendant saying she was too short even though she rode it all morning that day under the approval of another attendant. I don't know the height limit, it's probably 40 or 42 inches, but if my 4 year old can go on SDMT she should be able to use that slide without an issue. There was a yellow one which also had a limit that my 7 year old could use and the 4 year old didn't even try. I understand height limits are for safety which I completely respect but that purple slides needs to be lowered to 30 or 36 inches. At one point the slides were closed completely because there wasn't enough staff to tend to them. How about taking a lifeguard out of the adult solarium area to guard the kid pool- seems like a logic shift to me. Moving on to ice skating, this was a fun activity for the kids. It was offered serval days and the line for sign ups gets long really fast. You wait in line for a time to return. The gear is disgusting with soaking wet skates, broken straps, and smelly helmets but for 20 mins of fun for the kids I can sacrifice a few pairs of socks and immediately wash everyone's hair afterwards. I went to the adult arcade aka casino with my mom for an hour or so one evening. Made a small donation and moved on. Very smoky- this was the only time the entire week I wore a mask. My aunt and her friend spent a decent amount of time in there and won a few hundred bucks. It has been a long time since I went to a casino so for me the activity was fun for what it was. I think that about covers the activities portion of the review. Having been on Allure and Freedom I would say we enjoyed Allure the best for evening activities. My kids could ride that carousel until they got dizzy. Freedom doesn't have slides but everything else is pretty similar.

Overall experience- The covid testing is annoying and stressful. I bought the Abbott ones advertised by RCCL 3/$99. Me, DH, and my dad did them at home the Friday before and the process was fairly simple. My mother took her chance at her doctors office and her negative test letter was not accepted at the port. She had to go to the onsite testing facility and pay $100. She was not happy, very stressed, and really took a chance on this one. Hats off to the friendly port security officer that guided her to the site and assured us it wasn't far for her to go. He was much more helpful than the RCCL staff who didn't know where the site even was- in their own terminal. The kids I had tested at CVS to the tune of $280 first thing in the morning on the Thursday before sailing We didn't get the results back until Saturday afternoon, which was also stressful as it was sorta crunch time. I had no doubt they, all of us actually would be negative. Testing the kids at the port is fine I guess, the flow goes ok as there is a separate line and they put stickers on the kids until they are cleared. Waiting for their results and my mom to get back from her test delayed us about 30 minutes. Not terrible but I did feel rushed and not relaxed at all. The kids were also tested on Saturday morning on the ship. That process was quick and easy taking less than 5 minutes. The pre testing is expensive. I know better than to say anything else testing or covid related. Oh but I will add that every single crew member was masked at all times. They all wear a pin with their picture so you know what they really look like but they were masked all the time everywhere. We drove to the port and parked super close. We were literally less than 100 feet from the door to the terminal. This was very convenient both coming and going. As far as the ship overall some additional talk about maintenance and general repairs, I think at this point anyone booking Liberty knows that the big movie screen near the main pool on deck 11 hasn't worked in forever and is now covered with a RCCL logo banner. Huge disappointment. So rather than show movies there in the evening, they offer the venue On Air a few times a week during the day for movies. Biggest problem with that is there is limited seating. Get there early or sit on the floor. Needless to say we watched Sing 2 from our cabin. A few elevator buttons are broken here and there, some are dangling off and some don't light up anymore. The carpets are probably the worst/grossest eyesore especially in the halls to the cabins. Stained, tattered, sour smelling. Just yuck. Ordered a mocktail pina colada at the squeeze bar and was served it in a plastic cup with a big chip taken out of the bottom. Come on RCCL, part with that cup. Side note, the staff at the squeeze bar hate their jobs and they are not friendly in the least. At some point RCCL as a company needs to stop charging people hard earned money to cruise the Liberty and just send her to dry dock already. To me some things are easy fixes that the company should have been taking care of all along rather than let them get bad and wait until dry dock. We encountered some very energetic friendly staff and some grumps. No worries I'll never see them again. My mom likes to chat with them and ask about their families etc. My take is if you are miserable working on the ship cut your contract and go home, it's not a prison. Put a little effort in, make a passengers day and earn a few extra bucks here and there.

We had a good time because we didn't let these things or other things we noticed bother us. Even though I write about them here I do so as an fyi to others. Reviews can't all be good news they have to be honest. We aren't booked for another cruise at this point. Time to explore some of the interior US states for a change. Oh and WDW in October.

I've written a lot and taken over OPs thread. If anyone wants to hear about what we did in the 2 ports we got off at- Cozumel and Grand Cayman- I'd be happy to share.

 

[johnnyblz20]

I've written a lot and taken over OPs thread.

No worries at all. Everything you mentioned were the same for us. I will say the skating shows were nice but for me and my son who is 7 he had no interest. He actually watched the Red Sox game during the 1887 show on my phone.

The most upsetting thing was how much marketing royal saying how many things there were to do on this boat but I’d love to talk to one of them and ask just exactly what they’re referring to for children under 16 after 5pm. And sure my wife and I did go out a few nights on the boat but honestly if I wanted to just get trashed every night like I saw some parents I’d just do an adult only cruise.

 

[johnnyblz20]

Totally forgot to mention this but something that completely shocked my wife and I was the lack of shopping available on the Harmony. The few little stores they had were a joke. Literally the size of closets and the designer store was laughable. Really thought they would have alot more options than they did. The 3 watch stores barely had any models in them except for maybe Hublot.

 

[starvenger]

Interesting to see what's going on with the ships right now. When I was on Harmony and Allure the kids clubs were open until 9, and the teen club later than that. That seems to speak to staffing issues, and it's unfortunate that it's affecting the cruising experience.

What surprised me is that the OP did not mention the aqua show. Most people come away impressed by that, but I'm guessing there were no aqua shows for the cruise? That would be incredibly disappointing. The ice show, people either love it or they don't. I think most appreciate the fact that there even is an ice show at sea but sometimes the presentation can be just ok. Not sure if the OP tried the free skate. That's pretty fun, although I do feel for people that are trying to skate for the first time.

 

[disny_luvr]

Thank you so much for posting your review of the Harmony. My family is torn between sailing with RCCL on Harmony or doing a Universal/Disney trip next summer. I think we all want to go to Universal/Disney, but we are kind of over going in the summer heat and a cruise seems much more relaxing, but if things close so early, that would be a definite negative. Your review may convince us to stay with Universal/Disney.

 

[johnnyblz20]

Interesting to see what's going on with the ships right now. When I was on Harmony and Allure the kids clubs were open until 9, and the teen club later than that. That seems to speak to staffing issues, and it's unfortunate that it's affecting the cruising experience.

What surprised me is that the OP did not mention the aqua show. Most people come away impressed by that, but I'm guessing there were no aqua shows for the cruise? That would be incredibly disappointing. The ice show, people either love it or they don't. I think most appreciate the fact that there even is an ice show at sea but sometimes the presentation can be just ok. Not sure if the OP tried the free skate. That's pretty fun, although I do feel for people that are trying to skate for the first time.

There was an aqua show called "The Fine Line" and we thought it was decent but very very weird lol. To start the show a guy literally just spun around and around in a circle for nearly 5min to music. Reminded me of something from clockwork orange it was very strange. Something we all left saying well that was different.

 

[starvenger]

Nice to see that the spinny guy is still there.

It's a weird part of the show but I think it's to give the divers a break and/or costume change.

 

[Gary2T]

And now for something completely different...

We sailed on a very full Independence from 7/11-7/15. Room and common areas all seemed in good shape. Some of the elevators were a bit stuffy and slow to move once the doors closed. Windjammer at breakfast was packed each time we went. Main dining room food was good, but not great. MDR service was great though. We had a very attentive and friendly waitstaff that went above and beyond to befriend our shy son. Waitstaff at the pool and various lounges were also very good. Like others mentioned, our arcade was also missing some skee-ball balls and pucks for the air hockey.

There were 4 in our party (me, DW, DD13 and DS10). We opted for two connecting interior promenade view staterooms instead of a larger single room. It was a great choice for use, and ended up a few hundred cheaper than having one larger room. The standard size cabins that sleep 4 were never an option. Way too small for my liking.

The first night we took the children to the kids/teen club area. DD13 didn't want to go back to hang out, but did unsuccessfully try to attend a few events. The events filled to capacity before she could get in them though. DS11 did not want to go to the kids club at all. His exact quote was: "So this is where parents abandon their children." He tried it the first night, but did not go back.

Both kids tagged along with us every other night (and even later the first night). They both enjoyed the ice show and the comedy juggling show in the main theater. DD really like Grease (DS not so much). We all enjoyed various trivia games, name that tune games, and some of the more game show type things in the lounge. The silent dance party was also a hit with them. DD also like the Grease performers singing show tunes in the Schooner (piano) lounge. Yes, we took them to the longes with us at night. Nothing that was adults only though, and there were some other children there too.

Other times on board the kids enjoyed archery, the rock wall, waterslides and the flowrider. Lots of family time just lounging in the pool too. The bellyflop competition was tons of fun to watch. The best show may have been watching a Space X launch from the helipad one evening though.

Overall we wish we had more time to do ship activities. We never got to lasertag, the bungie trampoline thing, the escape room (had just soft reopened on our last full day), didn't get to see the other singing show in the theater and didn't do the flowrider and rock-wall enough.