RTripp

Hi Kel Kel, it’s my first as well. Going HOTS in 4 days, ( wow finally here). It’s all about room in your bag & what you want to drag around in your carryon for Day 1. Some things I had bought, the cabin ceilings & walls are metal, so magnets for hanging things even your hangered clothing. Highlighter pen to review Compass( it’s the daily activities that is placed in your room everyday, get a preview on this site to get a feel for what to expect for your itinerary, like hush party and general show times).  My big secret for dinner times..dinner times come out before the show reservations.... BOOK TWO dinner times , one in Solarium & then another free/ paid one. Once the shows times come out, cancel the one that conflicts with the show.  I got snorkel gear , if you have the room and interest ( Dicks Sporting Goods I think $40 for full set and nice carrying bag, the Speedo type has smaller fins & takes up much less room). I bought RC cups on eBay NOT DO , you get cups with the bev pkgs.Packing cubes , clear packing containers seem to help packing. Foldable Hats with large brims, or long back/neck cover (like French Foreign Legion- just purchased from Kohl’s).Long sleeved swimshirt( there is UV protection) for Flowrider/ slides to prevent elbow burns, and women must have one piece swimsuit for things like flowrider. Best sunscreen prices I found were at HomeGoods/ TJMaxx( some countries require Reef compatable sunscreen, Marine friendly stuff). Think about how your carrying the seapass, there are wristlets ( little zipped pockets on your wrist) , or lanyards( ugly hanging string from your neck), or alligator reel clips, remember EVERY photo you take you’ll be wearing it. Computer login shows more than IPad, mine did anyways. Read this blog & listen to the pod casts. I think most importantly, when you call RC for anything, get an email sent to you on what they told you. ### editing, on HOTS right now, bring Dramamine!! Or wrist sea bands, I have used it all three nights & shiphas a constant up & down motion day & night( surprisingly). I do have vertigo issues, so maybe affecting me more than others. 

Hi Kel Kel, it’s my first as well. Going HOTS in 4 days, ( wow finally here). It’s all about room in your bag & what you want to drag around in your carryon for Day 1. Some things I had bought, the cabin ceilings & walls are metal, so magnets for hanging things even your hangered clothing. Highlighter pen to review Compass( it’s the daily activities that is placed in your room everyday, get a preview on this site to get a feel for what to expect for your itinerary, like hush party and general show times).  My big secret for dinner times..dinner times come out before the show reservations.... BOOK TWO dinner times , one in Solarium & then another free/ paid one. Once the shows times come out, cancel the one that conflicts with the show.  I got snorkel gear , if you have the room and interest ( Dicks Sporting Goods I think $40 for full set and nice carrying bag, the Speedo type has smaller fins & takes up much less room). I bought RC cups on eBay NOT DO , you get cups with the bev pkgs.Packing cubes , clear packing containers seem to help packing. Foldable Hats with large brims, or long back/neck cover (like French Foreign Legion- just purchased from Kohl’s).Long sleeved swimshirt( there is UV protection) for Flowrider/ slides to prevent elbow burns, and women must have one piece swimsuit for things like flowrider. Best sunscreen prices I found were at HomeGoods/ TJMaxx( some countries require Reef compatable sunscreen, Marine friendly stuff). Think about how your carrying the seapass, there are wristlets ( little zipped pockets on your wrist) , or lanyards( ugly hanging string from your neck), or alligator reel clips, remember EVERY photo you take you’ll be wearing it. Computer login shows more than IPad, mine did anyways. Read this blog & listen to the pod casts. I think most importantly, when you call RC for anything, get an email sent to you on what they told you. ### editing, on HOTS right now, bring Dramamine!! Or wrist sea bands, I have used it all three nights & shiphas a constant up & down motion day & night( surprisingly). I do have vertigo issues, so maybe affecting me more than others. 

Hi RamblnRalph, when I had purchased items from The bottom button called “ Shop Royal Gifts....Onboard Ameneties” I recall I only needing to indicate room/ booking number and date of delivery. ..... Hi all update.....got back today from HOTS cruise..EVERYTHING ordered, required requested was there in the room we bought it for and on the day we chose! Only thing that did go right on first and last cruise. RC’s employees are spectacular, they work and litteraly run to get things done. Royal Carribean’s infrastructure, internet, coordination is terrible. NO communication to guests if an excursion changes time or gets canceled, with the VOOM HARDLY working, we were lost most of the cruise& paid for things, but missed the times since we relied on VOOM to update. The “reserved” dinner time was only right ONE day out of seven, which then meant all shows for that night were cancelled, unless we hurried to stuff our faces or just GAVEUP to eat a nice sit down meal. 

Hi RamblnRalph, when I had purchased items from The bottom button called “ Shop Royal Gifts....Onboard Ameneties” I recall I only needing to indicate room/ booking number and date of delivery. ..... Hi all update.....got back today from HOTS cruise..EVERYTHING ordered, required requested was there in the room we bought it for and on the day we chose! Only thing that did go right on first and last cruise. RC’s employees are spectacular, they work and litteraly run to get things done. Royal Carribean’s infrastructure, internet, coordination is terrible. NO communication to guests if an excursion changes time or gets canceled, with the VOOM HARDLY working, we were lost most of the cruise& paid for things, but missed the times since we relied on VOOM to update. The “reserved” dinner time was only right ONE day out of seven, which then meant all shows for that night were cancelled, unless we hurried to stuff our faces or just GAVEUP to eat a nice sit down meal. 

On a related point, if you have on board credit that you don't think you will spend on the ship, other travelers have told me to go to the Casino and take a cash charge on your Seapass.  Last time I did that the service charge was 5%.  Then I had some $$ to use in the Casino or use on gas for the drive home from Florida.  Someone else might have more recent experience.

There was a single Headliner on my Harmony cruise in May.  He was a singer/impressionist who was definitely worth seeing.  The other shows (ice, aqua, and theater) are different, well executed, but with story lines that may be hard to follow (so don't try).  I heard mixed reactions from other guests because of the out-of-the-box thinking behind the plots.  Thee were many great performers, who often performed in other venues in between shows.  I recommend going to places like Central Park to catch the vocalists or guitarists who perform there.  Of all the shows, I preferred the Headliner and ice shows with Grease #3.  The high-wire work in the Aqua Theater was awesome, but no real plot.  If Will Barratt (from Grease) sings in Dazzles, you've got to see him.  PS.  When taking a seat in the Aqua Theater, be sure the bench has been cleaned -- smoke from the ship's engines can condense and stain your shorts or slacks.

Yes, Harmony was the only ship there. 
The insane wait time was really for only two rides:  The "highest waterslide" and the "slingslot" tube ride.  These are in different areas of Thrill Waterpark.  The wait time for most all of the other rides was actually very acceptable (5-15 minutes at most) with usually 5 minutes or so average.  Several were with nearly zero waiting.
What makes the wait time so long on the "Highest waterslide" is that they only allow one person at a time on the slide.  Only after the rider is done and completely off the ride will they allow the next person on.  This makes for quite a wait if there are lots of people in line.  The wait on the "Slingshot" goes a little faster, as there are anywhere from 1 to 4 people on a tube at a time.

My family and I were on this same cruise! I can't believe we didn't run into you - lol! (wink, wink)
Roatan - We did the Jolly Rogers snorkeling here. It was fantastic! Everything was top notch and the crew were super. The views under the water were spectacular! (and no mosquitoes!)
Costa Maya - The smell was horrible!!! We did the same here - got off ship, looked around and made it back before the rain. 
The Key - I purchased this for my family. The first day lunch was held in the MDR, but was Chops food. The menu was more limited than a regular lunch at Chops though. However, the cheesecake was the best I have ever had - anywhere! So good! Dropping off carry on luggage was right outside of the MDR. Easy and fast - and in our room before we were. 
Bing Bong Marc - Agree again - excellent! However, he was not the host of Quest. Some other person was, who never introduced himself. In my opinion, he wasn't as good as Marc. He seemed very hurried and almost acted as if he didn't want to be there. That said my team won, so happy about that! 
Wow bands - I agree - they worked great at all bars! 
CoCoCay - We didn't get off the ship. I know, I know, but we live in the Orlando area and have water parks and beaches at our disposal. However, the luxury of having a humongous cruise ship to yourself, not so much. So we enjoyed the pools, slides and bar service on the ship with about 20 other new friends. It was a perfect day! As we were leaving breakfast around 9:45 a.m., Marc announced that over 2000 passengers were already off they ship!!
Overall, it was a great cruise for my family! Can't wait to go back!! 
 

For Costa Maya, we did not do an excursion.  We just walked off the ship to the port shopping area and walked around and shopped for awhile, and went back to the ship.  The seaweed was very bad there, and you could definitely smell it.  From the ship, the entire shoreline you could see from north to south had a huge mass of seaweed on it.  I'm glad I didn't plan a beach excursion because of the seaweed.
In Roatan, we didn't have any issue with mosquitoes at all.  We did the Tabyana beach excursion.  We very much enjoyed this!  We brought our own snorkel gear with us, and was able to see lots of very colorful fish right off the beach without going out in a boat.  This is probably the best snorkeling off of the shore I've ever done (I haven't been to the ABC islands yet...that's next summer!).  There are reefs just off shore that you can easily swim/snorkel to.  Even just standing a few yards off shore (it's a very shallow beach out quite a ways), we had all sorts of fish swimming around us and visible without any snorkel gear.  Lunch was included, and it was a lot of fun.  I would certainly recommend it!
 

Just got off Harmony on a brand new itinerary:  Port Canaveral, CocoCay (2nd time this ship visits here), Cozumel, Roatan (first time for Harmony), & Costa Maya
Here are a few stray observations I had:
1)  I did NOT purchase Voom, but discovered that if I simply connected to the Harmony-Guest wifi (for the app updates and schedules), I was easily able to send/receive iMessages to anyone, including those back at home!
2)  The Stowaway Piano Man was on this sailing.  I had the privilege of riding the elevator with him!
3)  First time Harmony visited Roatan.  The captain changed our arrival / departure times.  Roatan local time was 2 hours earlier that ship time (that remained on Eastern time).  Original ship scheduled time was 8AM - 5PM (ship time).  New schedule was 9:30AM - 6:30PM (ship time).  Evidently, the local vendors didn't want to be there at 6AM (their local time / 8AM ship time) to open up shops, so the captain delayed the arrival / departure time.
4)  Got WOW bands for everyone in our group.  They worked extremely well, and could be used anywhere on the ship in lieu of a seapass card.  They also worked for entry into Thrill Waterpark on CocoCay.  Every station on the ship had portable readers that read either your WOW band or your seapass card.  This worked for everything from towel checkout to shops to entry into reserved shows & events.  You still needed your seapass card for getting off the ship, and for entry in the ports back onto the ship.
5)  The Soda cups for the freestyle machines were the same old-style ones I've seen before.   I did see a few of the new ones (with straw and looped carry handle), but didn't know where they came from.  I had a boardwalk balcony cabin, so got complementary soda cups.  Even those that were for sale on board (with various drink packages) were only the original style ones...
6)  There seemed to be professional photographers on the ship most every night, and not just formal dining nights.  I didn't recall seeing this many days with photographers and various backgrounds on prior cruises.
7)  Did the escape room (and made it out with 5 1/2 minutes to spare!).  This event was extremely popular.  Spoke with someone in guest services, and they said the escape room was completely booked within two days (all days and all sessions) of it becoming available to book on the cruise planner.  Glad I booked it as soon as I saw it available!
8 ) CocoCay - Two things: 
     A)  Plan on doing the "highest" waterslide and the slingshot ride as soon as you can.  With the volume of people on Harmony, the lines were extremely long (2+ hour wait for these two rides) past about 10AM.  The lines finally shortened closer to about 3:30PM to 4PM.  
     B)  The lockers in Thrill Waterpark were complementary to use.  Cost was included in the Thrill Waterpark ticket purchase.  You just found a open / available locker, put our stuff in, and locked it.  We could then open it and access our stuff, and simply re-lock it as needed.  I have no idea if lockers outside of Thrill Waterpark were complementary or not...
9)  Cruise Director, Marc, was excellent!!!
Overall, we had an awesome cruise!!!
 

On 20 May I took my own gear and had fun snorkeling directly off the beach.  There were a lot of fish (at least 20 species) and a few types of coral near the man-made rock reefs about 20 yards from shore.  The water was warm and the weather was perfect two weeks ago.  Safety has improved in that there is a limit line that extends from one side of the cove to the life guard platform farther out.  This prevents being taken too far out by strong currents.  If you don't want to pack equipment, then book the rental online in advance of the cruise (the "at your leisure excursion").  My favorite spot is to the right of the floating mat rental.  Best snorkeling seems to be early before the beach is too crowded.

Highlights:
"There's a big gap between the highest and lowest-paid cruise ship workers.
Business Insider spoke with 35 current and former cruise ship employees, who reported monthly earnings between $500 and $10,000. Some 40% of their reported monthly earnings were equal to or less than $2,000."
"Many cruise ship workers, particularly those who work lower-paid positions, come from regions with lower median incomes than the United States, like the Caribbean, South America, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia. A former bartender for Royal Caribbean who made between $1,600 and $1,800 per month said the pay was better than what he had previously made in Chile, his home country."
"In addition to their salary, crewmembers typically receive free medical care, room and board, meals, and many other benefits that are often unavailable in their home countries," said a representative for the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade association for the cruise industry. "Crew members are very satisfied with their jobs and the opportunities for career advancement, which explains why employee retention rates in the cruise industry are upwards of 80%."
"The 35 current and former cruise ship employees who spoke with Business Insider had average monthly earnings of around $3,233 and median monthly earnings of around $2,600. The three largest cruise companies — Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings — reported in regulatory filings the following median annual earnings for 2018:
Carnival Corporation: $16,622 Royal Caribbean Cruises: $19,396 Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings: $20,101 The annual median income in the United States was $31,099 in 2016 (the latest year for which data is available), according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. That would translate to median monthly earnings of around $2,592."
Source:
https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-workers-reveal-how-much-money-they-make-2019-5
Also keep in mind that rate of income tax isn't the same in many countries, or applies at all for ExPats who don't work in their country of citizenship.  

Hi WannaCruise, we have two rooms. Royal made the adults split up & each one room with two young adults we are bringing. Which ended up giving us different Muster Stations. I have mobility issues & did not want to depend on my Niece the first hour we are on the ship to go to the station. I contacted customer service. They had to email the ship directly & ask the Chief Officer of Safety . I received as email right back allowing us to stay together for “ Mustard Stations” haha got a good laugh. 

Hi WannaCruise, we have two rooms. Royal made the adults split up & each one room with two young adults we are bringing. Which ended up giving us different Muster Stations. I have mobility issues & did not want to depend on my Niece the first hour we are on the ship to go to the station. I contacted customer service. They had to email the ship directly & ask the Chief Officer of Safety . I received as email right back allowing us to stay together for “ Mustard Stations” haha got a good laugh. 

I considered over the water cabanas. From when I booked, to my cruise (6/19 with Harmony) , I got sick & am/might be wheelchair bound & this would have been the only “excursion” I felt comfortable going on. But OTW cabanas will not be ready yet, so booked the Chill Island  Cabana. Want to mention that I found an **“issue” on the number of guests allowed, and have worked with RC Resolution Team and also with RC Corporate for 2 months. Resolution was not found & the excursion highlights to completing payment are still contradicting. I am mentioning this, if anyone is considering making the full payment & have friends chip in. Specifically 1)the excursion “highlights” state “room for up to 8 of your favorite people” which I took as myself plus 8=nine total. 2) the excursion “important notes” state “maximum eight guests per cabana” . 3) when you pay/complete this excursion it states “choose SIX people” . 3)RC Resolution team member Eva got back to me and stated it is “six adults and two children” will be authorized to use /be with me. We are traveling with 20 and it was difficult to pick& choose the 6/7 or 8 “ favorites”. Dissapointed that RC only offered a$25 credit for me finding the error. Hopefully other friends can stop in, but not stay. This is my first post, let me know if I should post my finding somewhere for others?

Mworkman, oh my...thought Hubby and I were the only ones that had seen that video! Thanks for the laugh!

Hi KwEvans, our group decided to buy our own since I didn’t want to deal with a leaking facemask & would have time to proper fit, we can get hopefully one more use on our June HOTS cruise.  Dicks Sporting has Aqua Lung for $30 that included mask, footies &  mouthpiece all in a nice carrying bag that is 3 pounds. I figure we will just watch where the guide points for people that rented their gear go & go that way. I’ve read that wherever the orange boys are, and to find the sunken “ plane” are the hot spots. Oh  FYI , four sets take up an entire luggage suitcase bag.If you buy  white Speedo version, have shorter footies, so take a lot less room. 

Hi KwEvans, our group decided to buy our own since I didn’t want to deal with a leaking facemask & would have time to proper fit, we can get hopefully one more use on our June HOTS cruise.  Dicks Sporting has Aqua Lung for $30 that included mask, footies &  mouthpiece all in a nice carrying bag that is 3 pounds. I figure we will just watch where the guide points for people that rented their gear go & go that way. I’ve read that wherever the orange boys are, and to find the sunken “ plane” are the hot spots. Oh  FYI , four sets take up an entire luggage suitcase bag.If you buy  white Speedo version, have shorter footies, so take a lot less room. 

Hi KwEvans, our group decided to buy our own since I didn’t want to deal with a leaking facemask & would have time to proper fit, we can get hopefully one more use on our June HOTS cruise.  Dicks Sporting has Aqua Lung for $30 that included mask, footies &  mouthpiece all in a nice carrying bag that is 3 pounds. I figure we will just watch where the guide points for people that rented their gear go & go that way. I’ve read that wherever the orange boys are, and to find the sunken “ plane” are the hot spots. Oh  FYI , four sets take up an entire luggage suitcase bag.If you buy  white Speedo version, have shorter footies, so take a lot less room. 

Hi KwEvans, our group decided to buy our own since I didn’t want to deal with a leaking facemask & would have time to proper fit, we can get hopefully one more use on our June HOTS cruise.  Dicks Sporting has Aqua Lung for $30 that included mask, footies &  mouthpiece all in a nice carrying bag that is 3 pounds. I figure we will just watch where the guide points for people that rented their gear go & go that way. I’ve read that wherever the orange boys are, and to find the sunken “ plane” are the hot spots. Oh  FYI , four sets take up an entire luggage suitcase bag.If you buy  white Speedo version, have shorter footies, so take a lot less room. 

Mworkman, oh my...thought Hubby and I were the only ones that had seen that video! Thanks for the laugh!

Hi Kyle, a group of us did the Snuba at XCarte Mexico about 8 years ago. Super cool experience, you have a very heavy dive like helmet placed over year head and it sits on your shoulders. Due to the weight you sink/ climb down a ladder to the bottom, about 20 feet down. Your air hose floats up to the top for air and is monitored by many snorkelers and scuba people. You WALK the ocean floor with full view due to the round glass like helmet as the fish swim all around. They feed the fish & the fish swarm all around you, and you buy an excellent photo if that is still done. The group of us walked the ocean floor in a large ne, between parallel bars to keep steady and high fived each other around the bend/ turns. It was expensive, but we were already in the park & paid extra for it. Highlight of our trip and the only photos we were willing to pay for. 

Hi, under the Royal Gifts, Onboard Ameneties, the alcohol bottle pictured is  NOT the bottle you get delivered to your room. It’s the tiny 375 ml flat bottle. 

Thanks for the pic on the Downy smell good flavor! We are planning on spending time in the casino & others in our party will appreciate this, I hadn’t considered it!

Hi JGuirduli, our first cruise as well, HOTS in June. The little bit of research I have done(trip advisor)it seems that this port  Puerto Costa Maya Mexico  is a very large cruise port where the main issue is the “maze” to to find an exit, to get out to meet an excursion or just leave the port area. I found an excellent map that shows the pier/exits/beach/restrooms/showers at www.cruisemapper.com/ports/costa-maya-port . Sorry I am not very good with computers & can’t hotlink