Leaderboard

After a quick bite in the WJ for dinner I noticed a hint of sunset in the stormy clouds. The aft of Majesty has a series of public decks at various levels. You can see why this was a very popular class of ship in her day. Maybe not a full sunset but quite dramatic tonight with the clouds.

Kind of ironic. Cruise ships account for a very, very small number of ships sailing the seven seas compared to the tankers, container and cargo ships. "Fixing" a few dozens ships looks good, ignoring thousands of others is typical media and society in general. Go to marinetraffic.com. How many cruise ships do you see versus all the rest? Green = Cargo Red = Tankers Blue = Passenger (including cruise ships) But let's single out the cruise ships because they generate clicks for "news" outlets. Cargo ships? Not so much.

But you know what... that is part of what you are getting when you book with a Travel Agent. Yes it may put us on the phone for long times, but that is our jobs. We know how to multi-task and get several things done at one time, and we love being able to know we saved you the client time so you can enjoy your cruise and not worry about the planning process

Muster drill at 3:30pm. The bridge announced that anyone who had ever sailed before didn't need to attend muster. Just kidding, they never say that. It's required by international convention so what can you do but go with a smile on your face and participate as a means to let the cruise begin. Sail away at 4pm. Guests lined the popular spots but it wasn't too hard to find some railing space. With that it was full on cruise mode. A Diamond happy hour event is hosted in the forward half of the Viking Crown Lounge with great views forward. An hour or so later I saw some ominous looking clouds heading our way and with that the salt was washed off the ship. Such is a Florida afternoon in the summer. This led soon after to a rainbow and sunnier skies.

The Schooner Bar already had a number of patrons so I decided to wait to try to get some photos of it and the Spectrum Lounge. Besides, my tummy was rumbling so up to the Compass Deli given the Windjammer was quite busy. A first look at the pool deck.

The best thing about pre cruise is the building of excitement. You book and you are super excited, you are going back on a cruise, but usually you are still months away or a year away. It's the building ever day to the cruise that's incredible. Usually 30 days out it's bonkers time with excitement. We are 32 days from Anthem and it's really building here. We are all talking about it everyday. God cruises really are the best vacation and Royal Caribbean is the best cruise line.

At 1pm they announced our cabins were ready. Ocean View 4564 Once we were at sea I opened the curtains to get a picture of the ocean view. It's actually been quite some time since I've been in an ocean view cabin. Plenty of interiors and balconies with a sprinkling of suites thrown in for good measure but it's been around 18 years since I've sailed in an ocean view cabin.

The Main Theater The Casino Boleros. Still have to give Empress the nod for the best Boleros in the fleet. Generous elevator lobbies.

A quick look into the MDR.

My day starts returning my rental car. I had chosen to drop off at the Hertz location closest to the port. This is inside a hotel which took me a drive by and u-turn to figure out. Apple Maps got me there I just didn't see the Hertz signs while driving and making a left turn while trying not to play bumper cars with other vehicles. This location is very close to the port, basically on the other side of a stop light. Hertz has a free shuttle that runs back and forth. The people in the first photo were Majesty passengers who had debarked today. All the major rental car companies were represented today. Too early to go inside here at 9:26am but it was either sit in my hotel room or be an early bird. Doors opened at 9:35am but we had a short wait at security while the check in counters got ready. At 9:45am security done and first in the D+ line. Picture taken, old style SeaPass cards with large C&A print provided at check in and upstairs in the D+ section by 9:50am. I took advantage of the free terminal WiFi to squeeze in a last minute check on work before we boarded. Around 10:45am the consecutive cruisers marched through followed by a call for Pinnacles and Suites then Diamond Plus and the succession of C&A levels.

Fresh of the Empress with a night in a hotel in between I'm ready and pumped for my next cruise. Did I mention... IT'S CRUISE DAY! I thought about starting this thread before my Empress cruise even left the dock (like some others around here do) but that just wouldn't be right. This five night Majesty of Seas cruise was necessary. I needed something to justify the airfare to Empress so this side-to-side was the perfect solution. Itinerary Ft. Lauderdale Nassau Perfect Day at CocoCay Sea Day Key West Ft. Lauderdale I love Empress but this way I'm upgrading to a much larger ship! Plus, I gotta get back to CocoCay. :) I originally booked a number of Empress and Majesty sailings when the Cuba cancellations were forced upon the industry. I feared Royal might move these ships out of the fleet. My plan was to take lots of pictures and document this legacy class of ship that were the foundation of so much that became even much more on later ships. It was because of the success of ships like this that Royal has become what it is today. Success breeds success. As it turns out they aren't moving these ships out to pasture just yet plus I get to sail on some of the best (small) ships in the fleet! That's a win-win. To be fair I split my time between Empress (3 bookings) and Majesty (3 bookings). I already had some fall bookings that were bucket list type cruises so I had push some my Majesty cruises into October but that's okay, she'll be here waiting for me. When you stay in a hotel and pay for things like meals and drinks you quickly appreciate the value that cruising represents. Spoiler alert - the view out my hotel window never changed and I woke up right where I was the day before. #boring Cabin this time is an Ocean View on deck 4.

I am 134 days out for my next cruise (169 days since Allure cruise) and we've started the "cruise fever." Flights- done. Hotel before cruise- done. Royal gifts for family for their stateroom- done. Excursion- done. Waiting on entertainment to be posted. Then spreadsheet time. ??

In terms of pre-cruise purchases, nothing terribly surprising for a short cruise, but this is what we've come up with so far.... Deluxe Beverage Package for me, Refreshment Package for my wife I think this is the first time I've called Royal Caribbean to get an exemption for the "two adults in a room" drink package rule. Usually my wife gets the DX package too, but as @mpoole3 can attest to, spouses breaking even on that ain't easy. I think with my Diamond Plus discount, it's probably a wash in terms of buying it onboard or online, but I prefer to buy it online and reduce that final cruise bill. Izumi Hibachi Thus far, we have decided to book Izumi Hibachi for one night (day one) and then figure out what to do the other two nights. Izumi Hibachi is one of my favorite dining venues on any Royal Caribbean ship. It's fun, filling and there's sake. Since we've been on Mariner extensively this year, I'm not hard pressed to hit up the other specialty restaurants. Plus, I enjoy the main dining room and I do not think we have eaten in the MDR on this ship this year.

Our Cabin – Since my I am planning this trip, and it is for my birthday, I chose to splurge with cabin 9708 which is an aft, 2 bedroom Grand Suite (formally the Royal Family Suite if you want to search on YouTube). Regardless of where we vacation, we always look for a room with space that DH can go to read or work while he waits for the rest of us to get up. DH has been an early riser all of his life – 5am is really sleeping in for him. I’m a night owl and could close down the dance floor, and apparently I’m no fun when woken up at 4am! DH and I have stayed in Junior Suites on both of our previous cruises, which worked well for the 2 of us. That little curtain between the bed and couch was just light blocking enough to keep me from being a… let’s just say grumpy lady… every morning. But with the kids, we knew we wanted the extra space and the second bathroom. Hopefully all goes well for the kids on this cruise because we’ve already booked another! We're taking my MIL on her first cruise next time around - Enchantment in February 2020 also in a 2br Grand Suite. Hopefully we won’t be ruined by the real suite experience, and we will be able to handle connecting rooms in the future. If not, and you know anyone who needs a wedding cake, send them my way so I can keep paying for the suite life! ? Pre-cruise purchases – Because we are in a suite, we didn’t think we would take full advantage of the Deluxe Beverage Package, so we purchased the Refreshment package at $17 for all of us during the Black Friday sale. I caved and upgraded to the Deluxe Beverage Package at $46 about 80 days out. I really think it needed to come down to $42 to make financial sense for us as we got the Refreshment package so low and we’ll be taking advantage of the Suite Lounge every evening, but it’s worth the extra $50ish in my mind to not have the big bill at the end. I never saw the package go that low, even on Black Friday. Of course now, with the recent price increases across the board, it really seems like a steal! We also purchased an excursion in Roatan through RC. I found the same excursion through a 3rd party, but the price was only $10 more when RC was running one of their sales, and DH likes the assurance of staying with the herd. We haven’t had family photos made in a while, so we will most likely buy the digital photo package. I haven’t quite decided yet, but the price is normally $250 for all the digital shots. None of the photographers I work with, even on their family sessions, give all the digital images and a print release for only $250. Most start around $300 just for the session fee. I’m sure it’s not quite apples to apples with the ship’s photographers (I'm not getting any editing with that price), but it doesn’t seem completely unreasonable to me. The package also went on sale today for $235 so I'll probably get off the fence about that today. I can use that $15 for one of the kids' souvenirs instead!

Yes, it is. With that I've sailed every (current) class in the Royal fleet.

A first look inside this little beauty.

I am testing out the key with my wife on our last minute cruise coming soon(mariner sept 9th). This is a splurge cruise to celebrate my big project at work being finished. I don't get much vacation time, so I am all about paying for whatever I can to make my time off super relaxing and convenient. For me cruising is a chance to do fun activities or lounging with as little effort as possible. Carrying around luggage or fighing the crowds on embarkment day for lunch, waiting in line for shows ect.... I can handle these things, but I don't wanna

Beyond it being a new class of ship with unknown new activities the environmental aspects represent a ongoing trend towards less pollution being generated. Symphony is 20% more efficient compared to her sisters. That reduces emissions and lowers operating costs over the lifecycle of the ship. I haven’t looked at the numbers involved with LNG but a significant aspect of LNG is much lower emissions. At some point in the future all ships will be required to further reduce emissions, 50 or 100 years from now will look very different from today. Icon is a step in that direction. Quite frankly any reduction in operating costs is passed onto cruisers. It’s very competitive and they need to contain operating costs to continue to offer affordable vacation choices for the masses. They can’t afford to return to the days when only affluent people could cruise.

@Big Dawg Ron: Matt! You've gotta come back with me! Matt: Where? @Big Dawg Ron Back to Perfect Day at CocoCay! Matt: Whoa, wait a minute, Ron. What are you talking about? What happens at Perfect Day at CocoCay? What, do we sign up for a cruise with @monorailmedic or something? @Big Dawg Ron No, no, no, no, no, Matt. You turn out fine. It's your weekend, Matt. Something gotta be done about your long weekend! ----- Friends, it's time to go back on board Mariner of the Seas over Labor Day weekend for a quick jaunt to Perfect Day at CocoCay, and a return to a live blog here on the forums! With an extra day off on Monday for the Labor Day holiday, I couldn't help myself but book a quick weekend cruise on Mariner. Originally I was on Navigator of the Seas this weekend until a certain person decided to hold a celebration of their final days of being single there and I was forced to change ships. Instead, we are headed back on Mariner of the Seas and down to Perfect Day at CocoCay. Another visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay is always welcome, and these weekend sailings line up quite well with my schedule. I can work until lunch on Friday, head over to the port and then wrap up my day while onboard the ship. Then the rest of the weekend is enjoyed onboard the ship! Not only am I looking forward to getting back to Perfect Day at CocoCay, I am looking forward to @mpoole3 not ruining the weather this time around. Cabin For this cruise, we have a category 2T Promenade View Interior room. As I recall, prices for a balcony were a bit out there and a Promenade room gives us a much better value. Plus, on a 3-night cruise without kids, how much time will I really spend in there? We will visit Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay. No plans booked for Nassau yet. Will wait and see what I feel like and then decide on something. For Perfect Day at CocoCay, I reserved an Oasis Lagoon cabana in the name of "science". I've stayed in the Thrill Waterpark and Chill Island cabanas, so now I need to try the Oasis Lagoon Cabanas to fill out the trifecta. The live blog kicks off on August 30. Until then, I will be counting down the days until we depart.

Just got home from 7 days on the Harmony of the Seas, and while live-blogging wasn’t an option, I tried to keep a few things in mind to recap. I’ve pre-written most of this, and it got a bit long, so I’ll post in chunks today. Also, this is gonna be photo-free, because honestly between the main blog and the actually good live blog gang, better pictures of all these places are readily available. The cast: Me, late thirties, live in North Carolina, moved after 15 years of living in Orlando and never actually going on a cruise. This is my second cruise, the first was this time last year on Enchantment. A, the wife, similar age, same residence, grew up in Florida but also never cruised. E, our 7 year old (8 next week). His first cruise. W, my mother in law, lives in Titusville, has cruised to Alaska and in Europe, but I believe this was her first cruise on Royal or in the Caribbean. We’re generally very budget conscious, so we don’t do specialty dining and try to manage our port time on our own vs. excursions, so things like suites are out, but we do try to find comfortable rooms especially when traveling with the second grader. Cabins: 9506 & 9504, forward Ocean View, adjoining. Myself & A in one, E & W in the other. The space under the angled front of the ship is “free”, and made the room feel quite a bit bigger. Beforehand: The cruise was booked through MEI, our agent is Brock. Prices never moved after our purchase, but he was always on top of important dates, check in, etc. Good experience there. Pre-purchased the everything-but-alcohol package for me & A ($140 each, Black Friday). No package for E & W as neither of them like soda, and E could drink lemonade for days while W drinks tea. I had a deluxe package last year, and am in the group that a) feels compelled to over-indulge to keep up with the price of the package and b) does not drink enough at home to sustain that for 4-7 days. Happy enough to drink the sugar-coffees & sodas and order a cocktail once in a while. Also pre-purchased Coco Cay Thrill Waterpark passes for the whole crew ($59 sometime in March), a single Voom package for me ($84, Black Friday), and a $50 arcade credit ($40, always that price. Do not do this. More later.) Arrival & Day 1: Embarkation Sailing out of Port Canaveral is really easy, since A’s parents live there. A & E flew down Wednesday, I followed on Friday. Saturday we picked up a couple bottles of wine and assorted travel essentials, and were ready to go bright & early on Sunday. Arrived at the port around 10:15. No security line to speak of, walked straight up to a table person to check in, then waiting about 10 minutes for E to get a wristband. From there, directly onto the ship. Could not be easier, other than nobody understanding how to form a line for the wristband table. We did some light exploring, including lunch in the Windjammer sort of my accident- we were walking the pool deck, realized we were there, and decided to eat before the line formed. After that, wound up at the bionic bar watching the robots for a while, to E’s delight. Rooms opened at 12:58. Our rooms were very slightly mixed up, with the beds pushed together in the wrong room vs. our seapass cards, so we figured we’d just switch. This was slightly more annoying than we thought at first, since now we had keys to the wrong doors and the answer to “what’s your stateroom number?” became a confusing mess. I went down to guest services on Monday and they switched us over, problem solved. Meanwhile though, we had to ask several times to get our connecting door unlocked, not sure what that was about. Not much else to add about the rooms, so... Room Review: We did feel like our stateroom service just wasn’t quite what we had on Enchantment. Back on Enchantment, our attendant noticed we’d brought wine, and had ice and glasses for us without even being asked. When I asked our attendant for glasses this week, he just told me to call room service. We also had the morning service on a sea day missed, and one night didn’t get a new cruise compass. Nothing too bad or worth being upset about, just a little surprising. We also never actually saw him around- I think perhaps most of his rooms were down another hallway, but we saw the attendant for the block between us and the elevator us every morning, never saw ours. Location-wise, forward was...not great. The nearest Freestyle machine was down 4 floors and over to midship, the windjammer & MDR were a haul, and while the theaters were at our end, that meant packed elevators every evening. Some of this is the inevitable shock of jumping from Enchantment to Harmony, but (spoilers!) next time we’re going to try aft. Upsides: super quiet part of the ship! Never heard noise from neighbors or people in the hall, or even things like rooms nearby being cleaned. The forward view was really cool, especially in San Juan & St. Maarten where we docked nose-in. Also, for those ports, that meant our rooms were the first gangway you got to, saving a few minutes in the heat. Ok, that’s the room reviewed, now... Food Recap & Review We’re Main Dining Room people, and will continue to be MDR people until it lets us down. I had requested a window table for the 4 of us and they delivered, we had a really nice spot with a good view in The Grande, aka MDR Deck 4. Apparently on Harmony they don’t bother waking you to your table, so it took us a minute to find our table the first night, but after that, the system saves a ton of time. We had the 5:00 traditional seating, and that made for a tight turnaround on port days, but we generally eat pretty early at home so this was mostly fine. I’m not going to list out everything we ate, but most of us hit the MDR all 7 nights (W wanted to eat lighter a couple nights). I don’t think I ordered anything I didn’t like, I think the biggest complaint I could come up with is that sometimes the rice comes out a bit dry. Happy to answer questions about specific dishes, we ordered a lot of them! Our waiters, Nicholas & Jonabell, were great. They took great care of E all week, often bringing him little extras or surprising him with extra ice cream- despite him being overtired and a little surly one or two nights. Appetizers always came out quickly, and entrees & desserts always arrived quickly and at the right temperature once the preceding course was done. We also ate in the MDR most days for breakfast. The first couple days we got omelettes, but as the week wore on we just grabbed food off the buffet. The Windjammer might have had more selection, but we like the calmer start to the day that we found there. Lunch was usually Windjammer or Park Cafe, nothing to report there, always serviceable. We did decide afterward that 7 nights in the MDR was probably too much for a second grader, and should have given him a couple nights in the Windjammer. But for me personally, I don’t actually like the Windjammer at all- it’s the smells. The food is fine, but the place smells like everything and I find it unappetizing. That’s a me problem, not a buffet problem, but it’s why I’d pick the MDR every time. Ok, that’s the room and the food recapped, now back to the itinerary. The End of Day 1 After dinner, we had 1887, the ice show. Loved it. We had a reservation, arrived at 8 for an 8:30 show and sat in the front row near the end of the right hand side. My biggest complaint with all of Royal’s shows is that they don’t have any kind of Playbill or guide to the performers. I’d love to know who these people are and if I’d seen them somewhere else before. Anyway, I’m by no means a figure skating fan, I’ll watch it for an hour every 4 years, but really enjoyed the skating shows on Harmony. The other days are not this long, I promise...

In case it might apply to anybody else's sailings. (My sailing is Adventure over Thanksgiving). In my cruise planner the one-device surf & stream is currently priced at £9.11/day which is roughly equivalent to $11. That is by far the lowest I have seen it. ETA: just found the T&Cs on the e-mail I received from Royal. "Offer applies to new individual tour bookings made prior to the voyage departure between August 20, 2019 – August 26, 2019. Offer applies to select tours on select sailings between August 29, 2019 – March 15, 2020. Discounts vary by ship." Hope someone else is able to take advantage of it.

I know it's just a typo, but now I can't help but to read this entire blog in the voice of Popeye ?

I always bring my own straw:

I haven't looked at the deckplans so don't know if this applies to your room but make sure it's not a connecting room. We had a GTY cabin on Independence last year and ended up with a connecting room and there was LOTS of noise-bleed from the other cabin.

Returning to my cabin I see that Fernando my cabin attendant had separated the beds per my earlier request. It's amazing how much bigger and functional this makes the cabin feel. It's also much easier to see out the window.

We did Majesty of the Seas over Christmas about two years ago and it was wonderful! I would not hesitate to do one again! That being said, we were suprised to find that they had so many people that wore Christmas themed pajamas, or tacky sweaters, or suits the day of Christmas! There were activities all over the ship, they had caroling, singing, shows, Santa managed to show up, decorations, it was absolutely amazing! I hate to say it because for me Christmas is all about family and extended family, but I have to say that I think that it was one of the best that I have had in quite a few years. Just do yourself a favor and book it and enjoy your Christmas holiday! ?

You can bet your bottom dollar I’m going to more than break even on the deal on my cruise. ?

Are we to also do away with first class airfare and suite class benefits?

Only sailed DCL, completed 10 & had enough. Worked with a wonderful TA after realizing I was missing out on the OBC perk by always booking myself (she had also added a stateroom gift one sailing too) She was more than a TA but felt like a friend, she does not book with RCCL so I looked to this BLOG for direction, and found MEI. I could book myself but felt much trepidation with the change so I reached out. I thought I would never find someone similar to my DCL TA but the stars were aligned for me, Sharla answered my query. As soon as our first conversation she really took her time with me and I believe it was after her work hours (I thought I would have a response the next morning) I knew I was in amazing hands. Being a newbie to RCCL I had a multitude of questions and she was patient, kind and quickly responsive. While I am used to a fixed OBC on DCL, I am in total agreement of those above I feel very safe & secure with Sharla knowing she is an advocate for me, just a few days after booking she already noted and applied a new offer from RCCL. This is going to be a long partnership, thank you RCCL blog-MEI-and most of all Sharla who makes me feel as if I was part of her own family. Happy sailing everyone!

I agree 100%

Bill W. was the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The verbiage suggests there is no dependent tier match for Pinnacle. It appears to read that only non-Pinnacle tiers can have dependents. One interpretation would be once your child is Pinnacle your child’s children get no status at all since Pinnacles can only have a relationship with a spouse or significant other. That seems rather harsh so an email to CAS might be in order. CAS Verbiage A Crown & Anchor Society member can be added into a relationship with other family members in the same household and receive equivalent tier status; however Cruise Points will remain according to actual cruises taken and calculated using the Program level accrual system described above. Pinnacle Club member tier status will not be awarded to dependents if earned by their parent and/or guardian. Pinnacle Club member tier status can only be earned by an individual, spouse or significant other by one of them accumulating 700 Cruise Points or more in the CAS program. For all tiers except Pinnacle Club, a relationship is defined as a spouse or significant other and children less than 18 years old. For Pinnacle Club a relationship is considered a spouse and/or significant other. Children will be taken out of a relationship with a parent or guardian upon their 18th birthday date. If it is found that a dependent or child is not immediately removed from a relationship upon their 18th birthday and accumulates a higher tier status outside of this time period, the dependents record will be adjusted back to the appropriate tier status.

Basically the Genie is a Concierge/Butler/Personal Assistant for those cruising in the Star Class suites. If you would like to apply for that job: https://www.britishbutlerinstitute.com/recruitment/positions/royale-genie-2019-and-beyond/ ?

Personally, I would not wait for Black Friday. There is no guarantee what the price will be at that time. I personally would purchase it as soon as I am able to and then just re-price it at Black Friday if it is lower.

I ams who I ams. Err, I mean I fixed the typo.

Were you traveling solo? I cruised last month with my best friend (I am married, she is not) so it certainly wasn’t a ‘family’ or ‘couples’ cruise for us. Just hitting the pools and going to the bars - neither of us are heavy drinkers - we met plenty of people. I even went to lunch solo in MDR when we were at sea and opted to be seated with another solo diner... just to have someone to talk to. But we’re both fairly extroverted people (she much more than I). Any vacation is going to be what you make of it. Sorry you didn’t have a good time.

C'mon, Matt. You've run this site long enough to know that we are all pretty as cheap as can be!

I've never done the Bottomless Galley Brunch. Not really all that interested in touring a kitchen. However, the all you can eat Champagne Brunch we had on Grandeur was fantastic. All you can eat included Lobster tail, Filet Mignon, eggs benedict, a full buffet of breakfast foods, champagne, mimosas, peach and strawberry bellinis, bloody marys, and more. The brunch took place in Chops for $30PP.

They just upped the drink packages across the board, so the lower prices that folks have experienced in the past may not be obtainable. If you are comfortable paying the price that it is currently, just go ahead and book it to lock in the price. It's simply to cancel and repurchase if the price drops. I will say that my Allure sailing next weekend is at $55 right now. Before the overall price increases it hadn't been more than $52 a day and had gotten as low as $49.

@CGTLH started the phrase "WJ recon". Hubby's strategy is...WJ recon before dinner, eat main dinner accordingly, go back to WJ afterwards. ?

Boo! Are you trying to rub it in and make us all super jealous? Cause if you are, it's working! ?

ROFL As a family my siblings and cousins wanted to take my Mom (only living aunt in the family...hence matriarch) for her 80th on the Anthem. She adamantly said NO WAY! All you do on cruises is spend time waiting for an elevator

I've purchased The Key twice - I like it, but I would not pay more than $24.99 for it, and prefer $19.99, which is what I've paid both times. At $37? Newp.

I have Pam Richter out of Pennsylvania. She has been nothing short of an angel for me. In just a few email conversations, she already knows my cruising preferences, how I like to travel, I swear the woman is a mind reader. She even extended a reservation hold for me when it benefitted my credit card miles to wait an extra few days only to have my plans completely change due to a move down south. After all I put her through, only to cancel, I felt so bad, but she was very reassuring and hasnt stopped her top notch service. Its very comforting for me to use a travel agent, to know that in 67 days I have nothing to do but relax.

Challenge accepted!

That's the problem right there....you didn't start the conversation off properly...it should have wen't like this.... You - This is (Insert Name & Travel Agency) and i would like to book a dinner reservation for one of my clients for Chops restaurant. RCCL- Sure, we can do this for you and your client, What ship, date and time would you like. You - date and time. RCCL- We have that available, name... You - Name given RCCL - Wait...that's you..Correct? You - Yes it is, Thanks, much appreciated..gotta go! ?

Day 8: Disembark I had a 12:10 flight home, and signed up for Luggage Valet, meanwhile A & E would stay in Titusville a couple more days. Bags went out at the appointed time Saturday night, and on Sunday we got down to breakfast around 7:45. I ate quickly and walked off the ship around 8:05, right into...an 80 person deep line for GoPortCanaveral, which I booked a month ago. This was looking dicey. Fortunately, they had two buses pull up a few minutes later, so other than being hot & sweaty, by 8:40 we were westbound to MCO. I cruised through security, picked up a second breakfast, and boarded an on time flight. Luggage appeared just as it was supposed to, so I’m a big believer in Luggage Valet now. Got an Uber home, total time gangway to living room was 6 hours, 30 minutes. Wrap-up and review-like content Obviously, we loved the cruise and we loved Harmony. That said, the ship is just absurdly large, and to us that became a detriment over time. You’ll note that nowhere in this incredibly long writeup is “we went to the pool,” because every time we walked by, it was elbow to elbow in the water, and a towel on every chair. We never consciously said “we’re not going to bother with the pool,” but we never felt like it was the most fun thing we could be doing. We also got a bit tired of waiting for elevators (I got to where I just hiked the 5 or 6 decks to wherever I needed to go). Other than the pool and the elevators, Harmony never felt all that crowded, which was impressive. The entertainment was top notch and the level of service we got was always impeccable. I think we’d happily sail on Harmony again given the opportunity. Un-Favorites: Ultimate Abyss, elevator wait times, crowded pools, too much seating blocked off in the shows (the entire balcony for Columbus? really?), long walks to refill soda cups. Favorites: The Fine Line, open skating, ice shows, Perfect Day, Castillo San Cristóbal, MDR food & wait staff, specialty coffees from Cafe Promenade (lines were never long and the coffee is good). Next time: With E loving the cruise, we decided to plan another one for next year. Right now, Oasis class 7 nighters are running pretty expensive next summer, and as mentioned, we wanted to find a somewhat smaller ship to try anyway. With that in mind, we booked a 5 night Independence cruise out of Fort Lauderdale for next August. It only has 2 stops- Perfect Day & Labadee, so while it won’t exactly be a cultural enrichment trip, it should be as relaxing as it gets. We booked an aft corner balcony on deck 10, which means only one flight of stairs to the WJ and the pool, and the MDR isn’t such a long walk either. It’ll just be me, A, and E, and the corner room looks to have enough space for the 3 of us, and I expect we’ll enjoy the balcony a lot. We booked that room for about half of what an interior on Harmony or Allure would have cost us around the same time (yeah, 7 vs 5 nights, but money is money). I’m excited to try that class of ship, and see if sailing with 30% less people helps with some of the crowding we felt on Harmony. Also really excited to visit Labadee. So that’s it, I know I’ve left some things out, so may add additional thoughts, but happy to hang out and answer any questions about Harmony on an MDR-level budget.

Lil guy has made several friends in the pool already! So cute! They are racing each other and having a ball. Dad and mom are relaxing...