b_resh_uh

I'm on the same sailing. Booked last week for $49, cancelling and repurchasing now. On hold with them since cruise planner is messed up on all browsers right now. Hope I didn't miss a better deal!
 

Yes! ?
It's now $46 for our Allure sailing on 5/19/19... just cancelled and repurchased!
It is usually $52 for our sailing... first purchased it during last CP sale at $49... woo hoo!

... but you know we’ll all be watching like a hawk just in case! ?

May 19 2019 - Allure of the Seas
November 4 2020 - Oasis of the Seas

But don't you know???!!! The Tanzanite mines are running out of gems! Gotta get it while it's still around!!
I've been hearing that since 2003.

But don't you know???!!! The Tanzanite mines are running out of gems! Gotta get it while it's still around!!
I've been hearing that since 2003.

But don't you know???!!! The Tanzanite mines are running out of gems! Gotta get it while it's still around!!
I've been hearing that since 2003.

To echo Kayla, don't over plan, but do some planning. Harmony is by far our favorite ship, but we did find that things we wanted to do were already fully booked ahead of time. Take some time and review the cruise planner and reserve things you know you want to do. Also, it's worth seeing about reserving seats at some of the main shows since they do tend to fill up. Some other thoughts:
- Park Cafe in Central Park on deck 8 is a hidden gem and is fully included with your on-board dining
- if you have kids, make sure to check out the kids area (Deck 15, forward?), there is a free Fisher Price play area for the younger ones. They also have day/night care you can pay by the hour for like $7/hour I think.
- Harmony is one of the only ships that has an escape room. it's right near the kids area and was fully booked when we went to go reserve, so get it early if you're into that sort of thing.
Which eastern ports are you heading to? As of last summer, St. Maarten/St. Martin was still pretty torn up from hurricane damage.

To echo Kayla, don't over plan, but do some planning. Harmony is by far our favorite ship, but we did find that things we wanted to do were already fully booked ahead of time. Take some time and review the cruise planner and reserve things you know you want to do. Also, it's worth seeing about reserving seats at some of the main shows since they do tend to fill up. Some other thoughts:
- Park Cafe in Central Park on deck 8 is a hidden gem and is fully included with your on-board dining
- if you have kids, make sure to check out the kids area (Deck 15, forward?), there is a free Fisher Price play area for the younger ones. They also have day/night care you can pay by the hour for like $7/hour I think.
- Harmony is one of the only ships that has an escape room. it's right near the kids area and was fully booked when we went to go reserve, so get it early if you're into that sort of thing.
Which eastern ports are you heading to? As of last summer, St. Maarten/St. Martin was still pretty torn up from hurricane damage.

Yes, that is all you have to do. We proudly wore them on our first platinum level cruise. Even for late nights walking to the hot tubs. ?

Hi everyone, I'm a multiple time Royal Carribean (RCCL) cruiser here (we love RCCL) and I thought I'd share that I took my family of 7 (80 yr old in laws, wife and 3 teenagers) in July 2018 on a Mediterranean cruise with RCCL and it was a great cruise with only one problem that our three sleeping cabins got flooded one day at 4:00 am when a pipe burst in the hallway. However, RCCL gave us all a fair cruise credit for the inconvenience and overall we still had a great time. 
 
We drove from Portland Oregon to San Jose, CA flew to London England where we spent a couple days in London and then flew to Barcelona spent a couple days there then departed on RCCL ship and ours stops where Cannes, Florence, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Malta.  RCCL ship and staff were fantastic with great customer service, nightly shows, tasty food and smooth sailing. 
Tip! In July much of the time and some of the places we toured it was hot in the 90s F (32c) and lots of walking in hot sun on marble tile so if you don't like hot weather go earlier in the year!
We loved seeing all the history in the buildings and people we saw and met on this cruise.  We think we could skip Malta Valletta as we didn't like it there as much as the other stops.
I did make 12 vlogs of our entire trip if you are interested in seeing where we went and hearing more commentary.  However, I don't know if it's allowed to post a link here to my Youtube channel so I'll just say you can go to Youtube search for RockstarBruski and click on the the cruise playlist, scroll down and look for the 2018 Europe  Mediterranean family vacation vlog series of 12 videos.
I included a pic of my whole family in front of the ship pose.  So cheesy but so fun! Cheers and keep on cruising! ? RockstarBruski
 

The one time we went was a cruising day, it was as if no one on board knew it was open as it was about half full. I seriously think half the people who go there are across the deck at Starbucks and go "huh, JR's is open for breakfast. Let's eat there real quick." Good diner breakfast at a nominal fee.

Agreed that breakfast can be insane, but we always found lunch to be more stressful. Our experience on Harmony was that breakfast in the WJ was much more subdued than past experiences. It might be that breakfast is offered in the main dining room, the Park Cafe on deck 8, at Johnny Rockets and at Starbucks so there were more options.
If you want a subdued breakfast experience, I would highly recommend the Park Cafe in central park. It was a great option for our family and far less cumbersome than having to go all the way up to WJ. The main dining room is always great too, but this was the first time we never ate breakfast in the MDR.

You should be aware that this is an almost exclusively a couples event (at least it was on Oasis last week).  I went by my self and left after the hosts were getting the men to dance for "their women" and the women for "their men".  I don't mind feeling out of place, but I was WAY out of place at that party.

I can reply to the Allure WJ as I was on it wk 1/27. Had breakfast & lunch there. As for the food it was good at least what I tried. My general thoughts is it's a little hetic sometimes with everyone running around trying to find a table & getting food. Now when they had staff seating people it was great & things went more smoothly as everyone wasn't going helter skelter as all they had to do was go get food & not worry about where they were sitting. In my opinion they need to do this all the time when it's busy.

+1 for under the bed.

But don't you know???!!! The Tanzanite mines are running out of gems! Gotta get it while it's still around!!
I've been hearing that since 2003.

But don't you know???!!! The Tanzanite mines are running out of gems! Gotta get it while it's still around!!
I've been hearing that since 2003.

Yep - 16+. But I think if kids are just going in there to eat rather than say, jump around the pools and run around and make a bunch of noise it's probably fine.

ABSOLUTELY the truth, I know they say that you get free stuff but the quality of things that you will get for free are on par with things that you get out of a bubble gum machine....not worth the time that you spend in there! 

Tanzanite jewelry seminars are the timeshare presentations of the high seas. You can skip those...

Tanzanite jewelry seminars are the timeshare presentations of the high seas. You can skip those...

Just me, and FYI we do balcony.  We get the DPB.  We get Voom Surf and Stream for 1.  We do dinner packages. We do RCCL excursions.  We rent bungalows or cabanas.  Point being I am not going cheap.  The cheap part of our cruise is the room.  
However, that being said I would not pay for the Key.
1. The key would be like the DPB.  We would need to book both of us.  Even though it includes Voom, we only book 1 device.  We unplug on our cruises.  We don't need 2 devices.  Thus, the Key is already costing me more money.
2. It has never taken me more than 15-20 minutes to get through the terminal and onto the ship.  I don't see how going through the Key line is really saving me a ton of time.  OMG it takes me 30-45 mins, oh well, is that worth 20 bucks a day to me? NOPE
3. Chops for lunch.  As Waaaytoo has stated the restaurants are now frenzied with the Key passengers.  We are more the type that grabs a bite to eat at the WJ, and hang out at the pool before they cattle call us for the muster drill.  We purchase the dining package and the Chefs table.  Maybe if you don't purchase that, than the specialty at Chops is a good deal.  However, you could get a Chops lunch at 22 bucks pp.  So you aren't really saving money in the end if you think about it.  
4. Luggage drop off.  Okay, but that is still a maybe.  We are doing Adventure in July for 8 nights.  I don't think 320 for the 2 of us is worth it.
5. I have been on different size ships.  Anthem has been the largest.  Anthem allows you to reserve for shows.  All of the seats in their theaters were good.  They had 3 specialty shows, if you reserve and show up early enough you will get great seats.  Even if you don't, this is not like Madison Square Garden in size.  You still will be able to see the show just fine.  Adventure does not offer this option.
6. I live to eat, not eat to live.  The breakfast/lunch for the last a.m. means nothing to me.  
Thus, when I do the costs, $320 for 8 nights is not worth it.  Now if they added something from the spa, I might re-think it.  $320 would pay for my Voom Surf/Steam (1 device), Chefs Table (2),  and just shy of a 3 night specialty(2 ).  I could run it another way.  It would pay for my catamaran excursion (2), my spa lime scrub and pedicure, our galley brunch (2).  
Just me, but I have a limited budget.  Room and excursions mean more to me than getting on the ship 15-30 mins faster or a "special seating" for shows, or even a breakfast the day I am getting off the ship.   We plan to do Symphony in 2020, and if it came down to costs, the Key would be at the bottom of my totem pole.

When I can finally afford a Star Class Suite I'll book an inside cabin for my luggage.  
No shot's fired, but may I play a tiny instrument for you?  ? 

All the jewelry/watch shows, are them trying to get you in the door and hope they peak an interest so you will stay and buy something.
Unless you really are interested in learning something about a specific stone or watch brand I wouldn't go.