Sea Turtle

Just a little piece of geographical info. There is no cruise port in either Orlando or Cocoa. Both of those cities are inland. Port Canaveral is by Kennedy Space Center and the cities of Cape Canaveral and Cocoa BEACH.

We LOVED our southbound cruise on the Radance from Seward to Vancouver AFTER Fairbanks, Denali, and Anchorage. Land portion before cruise is the way to go. Not wild about our international flight from Vancouver at all. Next time we will drive across the border into the US and fly a domestic flight from Seattle. We booked our flights through Royal Caribbean (can't remember what that part of company is called right now.) i also did an inside passage cruise round trip from Seattle. Remember that this is the part of Alaska that runs along the western border with Canada, not the large land mass that is Alaska. It was beautiful, but as Denali was on my bucket list, I made sure to do that itinerary the 2nd time around.

I did bring my own cup. Loved that it keeps drink very cold. Yes, had to transfer my beverage, including using their cup for water & ice to pour into mine for sanitary reasons. No big deal. Definitely bring own reusable straws no matter what if you like to have straws with your drink.

I have sailed on multiple ships of different sizes and I think all have positives and negatives. Several random pieces of info/ideas: Oasis is getting amplified (upgraded) soon so will have slides & etc. One of our favorite ships is the Freedom. She is scheduled to be amplified in early 2020. Do you like to have a variety of eating venue options? The Oasis class has many. We are not fond of the Windjammer buffet, and find many other non-upcharge venue alternatives for breakfast and lunch. We can also recommend the Solarium Bistro as a non-upcharge dinner option, reservations required, though. We love the Coastal Kitchen for suite guests on the larger ships. We love Central Park on Oasis class ships. Places to eat, shop, relax, & traverse ship w/o crowds. We also prefer the Royal Promenade, available on some ships- I know the Mariner, Freedom class, and Oasis class ships have the Royal Promenade, while Enchantment & Radiance do not. Great place for shops, bars, music, snacks, and people watching ? Are you someone who wants to spend multiple days at sea? Or are the ports-of-call more important? Will you be getting in the water for snorkeling or scuba diving when visiting ports? Give this some serious thought before you decide. Are you someone who likes Broadway musical shows on board? Check out the shows on the ships if this would be a consideration. There are many ways to avoid the other 6000 people on board, so please do not let the size deter you. If you can sail when school is in session, it should be less crowded. Please know that September-November 30 are in hurricane season in the Caribbean. September & October can be active. (Although things can change with all other climate changes.) Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful time! We are taking family members on their first cruise soon, and shared much of the same info with them as we did with you before we made a decision.

Wear something!!! Deck is unbelievably HOT!!!

We are headed out on Mariner at end of July, 2019, and the Escape room has not shown up in our cruise planner, either.

We recently had a JS on the hump on Harmony (8244) and our balcony was roomier. Would recommend.

Stowaway Piano Man was on our recent Harmony cruise and we loved him! Ran into him on the elevator more than once, and he really heated up the Royal Promenade one afternoon with his upbeat and crowd pleasing Elton John & Billy Joel tunes. So much fun and added to our cruise experience! ?

We got off the Harmony on 6/23/19 & can confirm that the waivers were done on tv in cabin. No longer available online prior to cruise.

Do not miss The Fine Line! We had a comedian as our headliner on HOS 6/16-23. Personally, did not think worth it. Also, skip to Columbus musical. There is so much to do on the ship besides going to the show.

Loved my WOW band, but did want to add what I added in another thread... did need to have an extra hair tie/rubber band near the buckle as the strap did not stay in the retaining band and my WOW band did accidentally fall off. It was so lightweight that I did not notice at first. Good to remember that it IS tied to the onboard account. Also, we still needed our sea pass card to get on and off the ship. But for the rest of the trip, it stayed in the cabin's safe. ?

We were on that cruise, too. So disappointed that Roatan was cancelled. Another comment: Loved our WOW bands but needed to add an additional hair tie to make sure band stayed on. Mine kept slipping out of retaining band by buckle and coming undone. They are so lightweight that I did not feel it fall off at first, and it is tied to your onboard account like your seapass card.

Magnets work for all kinds of things! (Used on multiple RC ships & regular & JS doors.).

Galapagos!

Home to scan! Need to scan recent Harmony Western Caribbean cruise. Love looking at CC before we go...

Premier Cruise Lines-th Big Red Boats out of Port Canaveral in 1991. What fun!

Congrats on first cruise! We got our WOW bands and were able to use them before cabin/sea pass access (most recent Harmony, 6/16-23/19)

Marc was good on Harmony 6/16-23. Our favorite of all time was Graham, on Freedom several years ago. A very hard act to follow.

Solarium Bistro on Harmony for dinner was a combination of buffet & menu options and totally worth your time. After horrible food in the MDR, we ate at Coastal Kitchen, specialty restaurants, and Solarium Bistro.

The World is amazing- recently had at Wonderland on Harmony.

Vegetarian options in MDR on our recent (last week) HARMONY cruise were NOT good or plentiful. Very disappointed!

COASTAL KITCHEN!

Go to Coastal Kitchen over MDR any time you can!!!

Is the Sky Pad open again? I am sorry this person was injured and I hope they have corrected any safety issues.

Thank you for the information about formal night on the Mariner. I am glad they have implemented this policy. We have never been on this ship before, as we usually take longer cruises. There just doesn't seem to be much sense in a formal night when you're trying to do so much in a short amount of time!