Biff215

We made them. I have a 3D printer so we found designs on Thingiverse.com that we liked and painted them with paint markers. Not an option for everyone obviously but it turned out awesome and at a lower cost than past decorations that we bought on Etsy.

We used it on Harmony last week without buying a wifi package. It worked well for the most part between my wife and me. We usually did get push notifications as long as you keep the app open (don't force quit it). I ran into some issues where I couldn't send a message or receive them so I would restart the app and sometimes turn wifi off and then back on. It was fine if I encountered this while trying to send a message but I wouldn't realize it if my wife was trying to message me. My wife didn't experience these issues though. It seems that the iMessage loophole has indeed been closed, no luck sending or receiving those to people on or off the ship. We were appreciative to have the option in the app though on those rare occasions where we split up, it's better than nothing and certainly better than paying the insane wifi prices. We enjoyed being disconnected most of the week, other than St. Thomas and included wifi on a St. Maarten beach.

I really enjoyed using the app before and during our cruise last week on Harmony. A majority of our activities were available on there at least a week out, so we went through and made notes of the things we didn't want to miss. During the cruise, the app worked pretty much flawlessly and I used it way more than the paper Compass. The only thing lacking is times for most of the sports deck stuff and kids' activities. It would be nice if they could add these, even if they were in a separate section. The app is fairly huge for some reason (over a half gig) so I'm sadly going to have to delete it until our next cruise!

Back from an awesome week on Harmony! Door decorations worked great and were a hit, particularly with our neighbor's kids who we would occasionally hear playing with them. With our two rooms being a few doors apart, they definitely helped us all easily identify the correct door to knock on (or open) as we bounced back and forth! Now these magnets will find a new purpose either here at home or in my classroom.

I'd be interested to know the same thing. In the past, we were told that AO staff would pick up the kids approximately 45 minutes into the meal. I assume this is why it would make it difficult to do with MTD unless you time it just right. On my past two cruises on Independence, it didn't seem to matter to the AO staff whether or not you had Family Time Dining. You just wrote your kids' names and info down on the clipboard. Technically anyone could have dropped their kids there, even if they weren't currently eating (it was outside the MDR doors on the bottom floor).

Thanks everyone. Our kids really enjoy the food and servers on a cruise, so the Windjammer or Adventure Ocean probably won’t fly. We’ll head straight for the MDR when we board and plead our case. If that doesn’t work, we’ll just show up early for My Time. I believe I read the first seating is 5:00 on Harmony, can anyone confirm? I don’t remember it ever being that early on other ships so it’s throwing me off a little. If that’s true, I’m not sure how Family Time would work if the club doesn’t open until 7.

I'll post pics after our cruise with them all up, but here are two examples. The kids and I are obsessed with printing articulated (flexi) stuff from Thingiverse, so most are of that variety. I always use these square magnets I got on Amazon, I just reinforce them with some Gorilla Glue to make sure they stay. Each piece gets as many magnets as I can fit on them, and sometimes I cut them into small pieces to make it work.

Hi All- We're on Harmony next week but we only booked about a month ago. My Time Dining was all that was available and we couldn't even waitlist for something else. The earliest time I was able to reserve was 8:15. We have an 11 and 6 year old so we'd prefer something earlier so they can still go to the evening Adventure Ocean session. In the past we've done Family Time Dining so they could leave early directly from dinner. First questions: I know we can request a different dining time once on board. Should be go to Guest Relations or the MDR? What do you think our chances are of getting it honored? (we're arriving at the port around noon). If that doesn't work out, can we still try to dine earlier with My Time Dining? Is that typically a long wait and will you have different servers each night? This situation is new to us so any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Brian Edit: Sorry, I just realized there was a Dining sub-forum, please move if needed.

We’ve decorated our door on our two Royal and one Disney cruise with our kids (11 and 6). They have fun with it and it does help our younger one to not try to open others’ staterooms. This next cruise on Harmony we have two rooms that are spaced apart so this will be more important than ever. Since I’m a teacher and home with the kids in these weeks leading up to the cruise, I brought my 3D printer home and started making door decorations. One door is tropical themed (flowers, suns, flip flops) while the other is ocean (fish, turtles, whales). The kids have had a blast painting all of their creations so this will be our most personal decorating yet. Hopefully people will leave them alone but at least we don’t have a lot invested if something walks. Door decorating is definitely more common on Disney but it’s still a personal preference. I don’t think anyone should feel pressured either way.

We’ve been to Mr. Sancho’s twice. I don’t remember exactly how many ship there were in port, but it’s typically a bunch. We’ve always left the ship early and got great seating on the beach. We do the all inclusive side which always seemed less crowded. We don’t like a ton of people and we never felt that way.

Thanks everyone! I'm glad it's something the kids will be able to enjoy, but now I have to decide when to reserve it. The 7:30 show is a better time, but they'll want to be at Adventure Ocean during that time. The only other option is 10:00 and then I'll just have to hope that my 6 year old is still awake!

Is Columbus appropriate/good for kids? We're sailing on Harmony next week. Thanks in advance!