sammy79

🌟💫⭐️A “Starry” Christmas - Harmony Dec 24-31, 2023⭐️💫🌟

@Jax is back with a “Starry” Christmas ⭐️💫🌟
For those that have followed my blogs you know we have a habit of spending Christmas on the Seas.  This year we will be back on Harmony doing our first ever Western Caribbean cruise.  We spent last Christmas on HM and although my preference would have been to try another ship, the fact it was sailing out of Galveston was too good to pass up. Direct flights from Calgary are plentiful and considerably shorter than going to Florida so this was an added perk. Our son graduates from high school this year so future vacations/cruising are up in the air until we sort out his apprenticeship schedule at trade school and work schedule.  So there is a very real possibility we will be on a land vacation next Christmas because I have no cruises booked beyond summer 2024.  😔
We have a lot planned so let’s get started…..
 
 
 
 

tire is fixed!!
i got my pre-trip pedicure done, and tomorrow is my last day of work for a week. 💚 i am hoping the day runs smoothly. 
also on the RUB watch: the suites category is sold out (again). 
i guess we could potentially hear by tomorrow?? i would rather just know if we didn’t make it than have that small sliver of hope that will make me not want to unpack. 😂
has anyone actually been upgraded once on board??

It's price gouging and is generally considered a bad business practice because it alienates your customer base.

I'm here for the rant..........

And yet it’s a middle class cruise line. Sure hope the food matches this price tag 

Royal in danger of price cannibalizing itself.

Pendulum needs to start swinging back to sanity 

I know it’s in line with what icon is currently getting but come on. So glad I got OV balcony on icon for $3200 over a year ago. This class will be a one and done for us until these prices come down. 

Pros
 - Aqua 80
 - Portside BBQ
 - it has been 'amped'
Cons
 - Cats
 - Cats
 - Cats

In reality if you're in a Retreat room and can get all your luggage to the Retreat Lounge on debarkation morning you can just take it with you off the ship when you go since you'll have the priority service elevator...but that's still potentially quite a haul depending on what suite you book.
The location of the Royal Suite on Apex was nice since it was right at the forward elevators, which were always less crowded than the aft elevators. We would have had no issues taking our bags up the elevators to the lounge if we had wanted to be the ones to drag them off the ship. I do agree the cart taking them from the room off the ship with Star Class is definitely a perk.
Booking the room category we did is definitely comparable to doing Star Class with Royal. What you are missing in lack of personal service is made up for in the more upscale touches. We had a lot of discussion onboard within our parties (and with Matt too) about the differences between the butler and the Genie. The biggest difference is that the Genie tends to be proactive, or at least they used to be. Our butler didn't do anything extra that we didn't ask for and did not go above and beyond, but he was willing and ready to do anything we asked for. You have to be comfortable with asking and communicating exactly what you want to get the most out of the butler.  Like I mentioned, we weren't able to get last minute reservations in a restaurant even through the Retreat concierge and the butler. A Genie would have probably been able to make it happen.
If you had to chose between this and Star Class and there are children involved, Star Class hands down just because the ships themselves have a lot more kid friendly activities. Otherwise I think for adults who enjoy relaxing and know exactly what they want/need to make the most of their vacation, the Royal Suite is a great fit.  
There are a couple of other rooms that have the same "all inclusive" benefits, but I don't want to mislead anyone on which rooms those specifically are..I think it's the Royal Suite, Penthouses, Iconic and Villa Suites but I'm not 100%.  Join some Facebook groups like @Lovetocruise2002 and do your research 😉

Well, this has had a bad effect on me. I just booked the Ascent for 2025. I won't be super fancy because the type of room I prefer are aft rooms and a chunk of the retreat rooms were midship. I was able to do the math and the drinks and Wi-Fi add-on was a very good deal. So you can count me as a defector. 😂😉

I always enjoy when you can make an entire salad without even needing lettuce.


I don't care what anyone says. If it's on a salad bar it's healthy.

I picked up a few sad pieces of pizza.

They were having a difficult time keeping up. They roll out the dough fresh and cook it there in a pizza oven (making the entire back area of Oceanview Cafe super warm and uncomfortable). The pizza was okay.
My mother said she wishes Royal had something like this. I said something like Sorrentos? She said yeah. 
Alrighty then.

Dinner was at Raw on 5 which is an ala carte restaurant that serves cold seafood platters, raw oysters, sushi, and some hot dishes.
With our room we were told we could order anything on the menu including the seafood towers.

Ordering the Imperial would have been excessive for 3 people, so we ordered The Chateaux and then a handful of other menu items, too.
But first drinks. Mine was the Sake Daquiri which is sake, lime, matcha, and Chinese 5 spice. 10/10 would order again.

My brother got a pink drink.

More modern luxury...they used real candles.

And then there was food.






And dessert.

Storage under the sink..

And the closet is in the bathroom. It's not as big as the Royal JS ones, but plenty of storage.

Towels are Retreat branded.

Everyone gets Retreat slippers.

And bathroom number 1..light is not the only thing it leaks into the room.

BYO

The bathroom is spacious. Someone could sleep in the tub. We never use it, so it's up for grabs @OCSC Mike. 

Around the corner from the tub is a huge shower.

There's a handheld sprayer and an overhead ceiling shower. If the ship is rocking I'd be scared to take a shower..at least in the tube showers there's never room to completely fall on the floor.

There are sliding mirrors in the bathroom that you can open up to the bedroom, or close them.

And before someone asks.

I like it better than anything I've used on Royal.

 

The room opens to this, which is pretty stunning.

I do find myself to have modern luxury design tastes which clashes with my interior cabin budget sensibilities. 
The living room seating area reminds me of the renderings I've seen of the Panoramic Suites which we have booked for the inaugural Icon sailing.
There's comfortable dining room seating and underneath the banquet are drawers that give you plenty of storage.

Ignore the beginnings of my mother's stockpile of toiletries to bring home 🙄

Bathroom number 2 is right off the entrance.

The room opens to this, which is pretty stunning.

I do find myself to have modern luxury design tastes which clashes with my interior cabin budget sensibilities. 
The living room seating area reminds me of the renderings I've seen of the Panoramic Suites which we have booked for the inaugural Icon sailing.
There's comfortable dining room seating and underneath the banquet are drawers that give you plenty of storage.

Ignore the beginnings of my mother's stockpile of toiletries to bring home 🙄

Bathroom number 2 is right off the entrance.

I'm sailing yet again with my mother and brother, both recently anointed Pinnacles. However, I am not remotely close.
That shouldn't matter on this cruise however for a plethora of reasons. 
For those familiar and unfamiliar, my mother is hell bent on spending my inheritance. As she gets older, this becomes more and more evident as she continually pushes boundaries of what she considers acceptable pricing for cruises.
I've learned not to fight this extravagant spending on cruise fares with the person who will, in the same breath, tell me flying to Ft. Lauderdale is too expensive, especially when I'm available to do the 7 hour drive.

Anyone can go to the bar there for drinks. They even let peasants who stay in interiors drink there.
(I think most of the regulars know that was a self-deprecating joke about myself but just in case anyone didn't, now they do.)

Grease was the show. I really like this show I’ve been waiting forever to see it.

So sail away was late last night we were already at dinner so we postponed our sail away toast till now!

Sabor where do I began. Let’s just say not happy with most of what we got for lunch. Jalapeño wraps were the only edible thing. The strawberry margaritas flavorless. I know it embarkation day and everything is rushed but I think for this sailing we will not be back.

The Harmony 2BR ATS was our first (and second) SC suites.  It’s a wonderful suite and will almost certainly give you the SC bug.  Congratulations and enjoy !

Symphony is one of the reasons I am holding out on booking Oasis for March 2026. I really want to know where that ship ends up. I know it's going to fall under "other Caribbean" but would they leave that ship in Bayonne over the winter? They haven't left Oasis there the last few years. It's not really suited for the cold. So depending on where SY ends up in March 2026, and if it fits with our March break, I might book that over Oasis.