I too went from RCI to NCL and was comparing the 2 dramatically. I was on an older NCL (the Star) and it was a horrible experience for me. I have heard that the newer ships are much better but considering it was refurbished the same year I was on it and still seemed run down means they don't put nearly the effort RCI does in making them better. I must agree O'sheehans is the best part of them. We found the food subpar and my wife did not have a great first cruise. I have convinced her to give RCI a shot before giving up and just in the research she has done she is beyond excited. 5 Days :o Great write up :)
So firstly, I wasn't hungry but now I really am. I can see why norovirus (or any virus for that matter) would spread so easy with people putting the tongs back inside the food. (This is why I ALWAYS reach in the back under the top layer to try and get the safer stuff.
Thanks @twangster so looking forward to next week.
A few people have asked to hear about my thoughts so here it is.. although this isn’t really a live blog but we just got off the other day
A little background on me... I went on my first cruise in 2004 on Navigator of the Seas, and then in 2006 it was Mariner of the Seas. I went on these in my early 20s. Flash forward about 10 years, now in my early (almost mid) 30s and have an 8 year old son. I was a single mother for some time and cruising wasn’t even something that crossed my mind. I worked my a$$ off to provide a wonderful life for my son, and 4 years ago I met a great man who is also a great father to my son. I was now finally in a much better financial situation and in early 2016 we were ready to book our first family vacation!!! After doing some research I was debating between Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Considering I took a 10 year hiatus from cruising, I felt like everything was brand new again. We ended up booking Harmony of the Seas for November 2016. At the time, I didn’t even know Harmony was a brand new ship and that we were booked on her first 7 day Caribbean sailing!! Talk about a steeler cruise to reintroduce myself to cruising!! I started googling and more googling until I stumbled upon Royal Caribbean Blog!
After I had booked our Harmony sailing, but prior to actually sailing, a friend mentioned wanting to book a cruise for 2017. I was in!! They were celebrating their 10 year anniversary and only request was they didn’t want to visit Jamaica (bad experience on honeymoon). Since we were sailing an eastern itinerary in 2016, and all the western itineraries I could find for the time period we were looking at and leaving out of Florida, they all had a stop in Jamaica. My friends found an interesting itinerary on the NCL Getaway. It came with their “perks” of the unlimited beverage package and 3 nights specialty dinning. In the meantime, more people joined the group and I was out numbered in the vote to go RCI. I said, what the hell, let’s do it! You don’t know if like something until you try it, right? Well flash forward again to November 2017... and I tried it, and know if I like it or not!
I am going to do a comparison by category comparing my Harmony sailing to my Getaway sailing. Now, I know this isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples since Harmony was brand new, and larger. But Getaway is only a few years old, and still holds well over 4,000 passengers I feel they close enough to form my opinions.
Pre Boarding/Cruise Planner - Prior to sailing on Harmony, Royal’s cruise planner drove me nuts. Several different glitches, and it that it never worked properly on my phone. I hate having to get my laptop out! But, I was able to browse and book Shore excursions right away, they ran several different sales and everything was easy to find.
NCL - I couldn’t even view most excursions until about 120 days out. I am a HUGE type A personality planner and this drove me nuts! I don’t book most excursions through the ship so this wasn’t a huge deal except for the fact that I wanted to book a Beach Villa on their brand new private island in Belize called Harvest Caye (more on this later). So, needless to say I was checking on a weekly basis and finally around the end of July (we were sailing in November) I was finally able to book the Villa.
I found the website lacking and a little hard to navigate, and I was unable to link our dining between our different reservations. Because of this, and the timing of them releasing their Shore excursions, Royal wins for pre cruise planning. RCI 1 NCL 0
Embarkation - We were lucky to be one of the first sailings on Harmony, which you entered your credit card info, uploaded your picture etc all ahead of time. It is my understanding not all RCI ships are this way, so I’m not going to take that into account, although I definitely liked that better. Embarkation was fairly simple on both, fast and effecient. On NCL we were traveling with my elderly grandmother who needed wheelchair assistance, we were one of the first people on the ship! This also happened to me on my first two sailings with Royal (my grandfather was with us), moral of the story, if anyone in your party can justify a wheelchair, take advantage! Lol. Overall embarkation is a tie with very little issues on both RCI 2 NCL 0
First impressions on board - Royal ships are just gorgeous!! I have not sailed on one without a Promenade and I really missed it! That giddy feeling when you first walk on board was missing. We boarded NCL on deck 7, and got to see the stairwell.. talk about underwhelming. Luckily my TA had given me a heads up so at least I was prepared RCI 3 NCL 0
Staterooms - We had a standard balcony room on Harmony. It was my first time on a balcony and I was officially hooked! We are a family of 3, so 2 adults and a child. We had more than enough storage and closet space, including room for my 15 pairs of shoes (don’t judge). NCL, because my grandmother was traveling with us, we had connecting staterooms. One a Family Mini Suite and the other an Angled Balcony Room. The balcony room was their standard balcony room, but our balcony was where the ship “jutted” out, giving more room. We had planned on opening the divider for one large balcony. Well, “they don’t allow it for safety reasons” a quote from our room steward. My question, why was the ship built with opening dividers if it’s a safety issue and they aren’t allowed to open them? Major disappointment number 1. We were warned the balconies were going to be tiny, but were not cocnerned as we thought we would have one long one. I am an average height woman at about 5’6”. When I sat in ththere chair that was all the way back, my knees touched the glass on the standard balcony of the mini suite. Slightly more room on the angled balcony, but because of th angle we could only look forward not aft.. without hanging over the edge with someone hanging onto you so you don’t fall. No thank you! Bathrooms in both balcony rooms were fairly similar in size. The Family Mini Suite is a glorified balcony with a larger bathroom. It is NOT similar to a Junior Suite on RCI. It did come with a full bathtub with a double sink which was nice. The only closet in the room is very close to the couch and you had to shimmy in sideways to get in. I definitely did not have room for 12 pairs of shoes (I tried to pack lighter this year). Decor was only meh.. Royal wins for staterooms hands down RCI 4 NCL 0
Food (the best part!) - I was actually disappointed with the overall food on Harmony. I was used to the old style cruising of one specialty restaurant and set dining time with the same waiter each night. Traditional dining was booked so we had to go with My Time Dinning. We ate in the dining room 3 times and 4 Specialty (Chops, 150 CP, Jamie’s and Wonderland). All our specialty dining was amazing, main dining room not so much, including service. One night the food was just disgusting. And another night our server left much to be desired. NCL has 3 main dining rooms, they have named theirselves “Freestyle cruising”. At first I thought I wouldn’t like this. I like traditional cruise dining, I enjoyed getting to know your waiter and your table mates, I enjoyed formal nights. When else as an adult do you have an excuse to get all fancy?? We decided well in advance we would be doing our own formal night. To our surprise, many people did the same! You would see eveverything from evening gowns to shirts and tanks and no one judged. I even wore shorts and sandals one night and I loved it! The food, I didn’t have one bad meal, including complimentary. There is a pub type place called O’Sheehans that is complimentary, we are not big buffet people so this is where we ate most lunches. Everything was at minimum average and at best, delicious! There is also a Margaritaville onboard (for a charge) because of the fact they had so many choices for complimentary dining and literally didn’t have one bad meal, topped with the relaxed dress code, NCL wins this one. I’m even going to give them 1.5 points since I am combining dinning and dress code.. it really was nice being able to go casual without any glaring eyes RCI 4 NCL 1.5
Kids Club - I should start with saying, my son has slight special needs being diagnosed ADHD with ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) basically, he does whatever he wants and doesn’t care about consequences. He was borderline on the spectrum with Aspergers, but was just under the line. I didn’t know at the time, but RCI is endorsed by the Austism Research Institute and even has sailings Autism of the Seas. I was so nervous about dropping him off and having behavioral issues. He had so much fun there!! Everything was structured and organized, what he thrives from. He wanted to be at the kids club any moment he could. He was just as excited to try the NCL kids club. NCL was much smaller, but I had expected that knowing Harmonys was the newest and best with a science, art and theater room. 2 out of the first 3 days we had behavioral issues. Now, I know more than anyone that my son can be a handful, and he defiantly did wrong, I felt the staff on RCI was just better trained to accommodate “non mainstream” children like himself, and were able to see certain behavior be triggered and able to redirect prior to meltdowns. We took 2 days off from the club then went back for short time periods and with a track phone. He still had fun! RCI 5 NCL 1.5
Ship Activities/Overall layout - Harmony was so easy to navigate, it didn’t matter it is the largest cruise ship in the world. I never got lost once, things made sense. The neighborhood concept is amazing and makes you feel comfortable and at home. I enjoy having the promenade and almost a “central main location” the hub of the ship sort of speak. I never had that feeling on NCL, it always felt like something was missing. The Atrium was just not the same, I am not sure if I would feel the same on a RCI ship with an atrium instead of a promenade. I may need to stick to Voyager Class or above! The casino was in the middle of the main deck and we had to walk through with children to get to the main dining room and if it wasn’t for all the smoke I probably wouldn’t care. There is no mid bank of elevators, only forward and aft. You have to walk outside to get to ththe buffet... did I mention it was downporuing in Honduras?? I was warned ahead of time the pool was tiny, and it was. There is only one main pool, and it’s adults only. There is a glorified hot tub squeezed between the slides and the splash area that they called the “kids pool”. Because it’s in th middle, there is no wherno for chairs. Since I am one of the parents that watches their child, unless I wanted to go in I had to sit on the side. They should have planned better and thought of parents. The splash area looked good for small children, but did not interest my 8 year old. We was luckily tall enough to do some sides this year which was a plus, although we only did them once. Mini was gold was average for a ship, but the sports complex area was impressive overall. The ropes course and plank over th edge was pretty sick, in addition to the bungee trampoline for anyone under 90lbs. The sports complex is really the good thing I have to say about the ship RCI 6 NCL 1.5
Private Islands - I have only been to CocoCay, not Labadee but I need to make it happen. I loved CocoCay, water was beautiful and it was so relaxing. Loved everything was included like the ship. Tendering is a downside although that is now changing! I was so excited for Harvest Caye in Belize. They just built it and it looked amazing. As time went on I found out it wasn’t your typical private island and everything was run by locals not the ship, so nothing was included. After some time I became ok with the idea that it wasn’t truly a private island, instead just another port stop. There were some people on board who hadn’t done their research and were not pleased which is understandable. It is also why you do a little research first. The island landscaping and water was beyond beautiful. I felt like we were on a pacific island. We had the last villa on the beach so it was nice and private and service was amazing. I defiantly enjoyed my day there more than CocaCay but I think the villa had something to do with that.. I will totally be looking into one for the 2019 GC. Since to me it’s not truly a “Private Island” I’m giving NCL .5 points, making the total RCI 6 NCL 2
As you can see by the scores, it wasn’t all bad. I found the ship not as family friendly as Royal Caribbean, and if you are traveling without children you may have a very different experience, and until the last day I was thinking I would maybe sail them again, just as an adults only cruise, until...
I was looking over my bill the last sea day and noticed a $300 charge from the Tempanyaki night. My sons birthday was one night on board and 9 of us went to dinner there. 6 of us had the specialty dinning package and I was paying for the other 3.. I promise you it’s not $100 per person. I went to guest services to correct and she insisted we used all the nights and that’s why we were charged. After arguing for 20 mins and a few phone calls, she finally figured out that they not only charged me for all 9 but thwas dining was applied that night. Now, to issue the refund she had to get the manager of that restaurant to do it, she couldn’t. We waited abou 15 mins and he argued with us and didn’t even understand the receipt from HIS restaurant. It clearly said “9 @ $29.95” then the service charge the and the total (around $310). He was an asshat (can I say that on here?) and said I was “wrong” and he needed a calculator. Needless to say I got my refund. Did I mention I am an accountant?
The last night of the cruise we went to get our pictures. My mother and I split a 30 print package for $250 prior to sailing. There was a special onboard for that price plus a USB of all the images. We asked a girl if ours had that and she said yes. We went to order our prints and another asshat (I can say that, right?) said it was $20 extra. He called the girl over and proceeded to argue with her, she was insisting it did and he did not. She ended up apologizing saying she was mistaken and it doesn’t come with ours since we bought ahead of time. So basically they penalize you for buying ahead even though the falsely advertised you were saving money booking ahead. More importantly the horrible customer service from Jovan in the photo studio who not only argued with me but also very rudely with a coworker right in front of us. Over a $20 USB after spending $250 on pictures!!! I walked out of there with my free USB and someone who will only be sailing RCI from now on!! Did I mention my son and grandmother who shared a room both left with rashes? They decided to check for any infestation on disembarkation day
I feel like I may have rambled there at points and also probably forgot to touch on something so if you have any questions please feel free to ask!
So firstly, I wasn't hungry but now I really am. I can see why norovirus (or any virus for that matter) would spread so easy with people putting the tongs back inside the food. (This is why I ALWAYS reach in the back under the top layer to try and get the safer stuff.
Thanks @twangster so looking forward to next week.
I had interior cabins on both Freedom and Indy that were pretty much mirror images of each other. This photo from Indy:
I find my cabin on Liberty easier to get around the bed and to access both sides. This is largely due to the rounded bed found on many of the newer ships. On Freedom/Indy access to the right side of the bed is a bit of a pain.
I noticed some elevator lobby noise on day 1 right after cabins opened up but haven't heard much more. I crashed early last night and wasn't bother by any. Any noise I do hear is coming through the door (not through walls) and like any cabin, any where, loud talkers or laughers in the hall can be heard as they walk past your cabin.
Given a choice I'd take this new cabin on Liberty. Still has that new cabin smell.
Wow, okay, since this is that interesting I've run the sheet with various cruise planner prices - $11.99, $12.99, $13.99, $14.39, $14.99 and $15.99.
Voom Surf and Stream was $11.99 for the Symphony TA so yes it does go that low at times. PDFs:
This just in... Carnival has announced its new interactive entertainment offering 'Fight Club' with a premiere showing on the Legend.
VP of Entertainment Guy Rowdy issued this press release: "Guests were complaining of lack luster entertainment on our ships so we decided to spice it up a bit. Guests are invited to interact with our new 'Fight Club' cast who were hand picked from the streets. We believe this new experience is truly immersive as our 'Fight Club' cast will randomly interact with guests on the pool deck and in the night clubs. Initial guest feedback is fantastic with several guests lining the rails cheering the cast as they disembarked on their way to our next ship."
Reviews from guest are starting to trickle in with comments like "I've never seen anything like it" and "I was in shock".
Based on the success of the initial performance Carnival plans to extend 'Fight Club' to more ships and is currently scouring the streets for more 'performers'.
Guests are reminded though that video recording of 'Fight Club' is not permitted and 'Fight Club' rules will be enforced by the crew. The first rule of 'Fight Club' is: you do not talk about 'Fight Club'. The second rule of 'Fight Club' is: you DO NOT talk about 'Fight Club'!
Wondering about sightseeing? I’m glad you asked! Today was a really, really fun day.
We kicked it off with a walk to a local coffee shop featuring locally roasted beans called Don Ruiz. I would recommend this to anyone for a delightful selection of pastries as well as a darn good iced coffee. After, we made breakfast in the villa with family and decided to head towards El Morro (pictures below) - absolutely worth the trip and made for a fantastic morning (and a workout!)
Following El Morro, we walked to Barrachina for lunch to try the original Pina Colada - and it was as good as you might think it would be. The food was great as well!!
We did a little shopping and relaxing after lunch and wound up at Greengos bar and restaurant for dinner, which was fantastic. They feature $5 margs and $2.50 corona for happy hour from 4-7 pm. Entirely worth it, and the food was great. Apps can easily be split for dinner.
Typing it out it doesn’t sound like we did much, but in a group of 12 it was a lot to coordinate and made for a fun day filled with good people.
Tomorrow we are headed to port around 11 am!!! Can’t wait to board!
Stray thoughts -
if you are traveling in a large group, ask to have the check split ahead of time. This caused some headaches for our group figuring out how much everyone owed.
For those with concerns regarding sailing from San Juan - I had a conversation with my sister in law where she shared her post hurricane concerns and wasn’t sure about sailing from here. After spending time in the city, she’s definitely glad to have come and has fallen in love with the city.
As discussed, here’s a few villa pictures!
3 bedroom (1 queen, 2 double), 2.5 bath Villa located in Old San Juan. AirBnB host has been great, and the property and location are incredible.
I will get some pictures tomorrow and share out a link most likely when I get back. Right now we are back at the villa relaxing after a long day of travel.
Other stray thoughts -
getting a taxi from SJU to Old San Juan was a painless process. Once you are here, it really does feel like you can walk anywhere and everything is well lit.
Most leftover hurricane damage I’ve seen was outside of Old San Juan.. everything in this area seems to be up and running and people are very nice
And now I’m playing a drinking game and I lost because I was writing this so for my own sake I’ll follow up in the morning
We usually get on board around 11:00-ish and we are not champagne drinkers. So, being that it is still morning when we board, a couple of bloody marys while walking around does quite well for us. Enjoy your cruise and be Adventurous! (see what I did there).
In regards to the Murder Mystery, I will be doing it on my March 3rd cruise on Freedom so I will be doing a bit of a review (may have to do a non-spoiler and a spoiler version). I am not sure if photos will be allowed so not sure if I'll be able to share that or not yet. I'm not sure if it is available on your cruising though.
When all is said and done, I think we all need to celebrate when Joe boards Freedom ........ Cheer him on!!!!!!
The next month is going to be pure torture
It was amazing!! I had every intention of taking lots of pictures, but I ended up just relaxing and leaving my phone in the stateroom the whole time. LOL. A lot of my fellow cruisers took pics and posted them on the Adventure of the Seas - past, present, and future cruisers facebook group if you want to take a look. The carpet in the room was new, as well as a new chair. The Windjammer had sinks for washing hands right at the entrance (not sure if this was added at drydock but looked brand new), everything smelled new and fresh around the ship. The public areas were amazing - nice and clean. It did not look like they were doing any more work in the public areas.. it looked mostly finished. Oh and Izumi in the Promenade! We did not eat there but it was finished and had people dining there every evening. I am so excited to go on this boat again! I honestly loved Adventure more than my last few trips on Oasis class ships.. those are just SO big that it almost feels hard to relax, if that makes sense. Voyager class seems like the perfect size for me.
This is so well said. I think many people naturally assume that a great TA is suppose to be an all in one package. All knowing, best pricing, always available. But the key is what do you need from a TA? As @LetsTryThisTech we all have different comfort levels when it comes to planning vacations. Key is to know yourself first. Then seek out a TA who matches what you need.
It all depends what you are going to a TA for. Are you wanting them to just get you the rock bottom price or do you want more of a personal experience? I do it most things myself so I would usually try to just get the best price I can (maybe even get some Ebate's rebates) and check daily for the price (its just habit for me.) I don't normally get my cruises further than 90 days (except my next years) I don't benefit from price drops anyways. I always get told to check my local TA and we only have like 2 and they were higher then I could get it on my own so was not worth it to me. For my next cruise going to hunt for someone in the states who will accept me (may need to give my US shipping address lol)
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