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So I am considering taking a transatlantic Cruise next year. I have narrowed it down to two ships (i have not decided which direction i will be going yet, but that does not matter for this question as both ships i have picked are going and coming). The two ships are Harmony and the Odyssey. So my question is, given that cost is almost identical, and that i like both destination options, which should i choose? Which would you go on? I want to consider the fact that over half of the trip will be sea days, so which ship has more activities and entertainment, or are both equal? Thank you for any advise.

Going on a cruise in Feb. On Harmony out of Port Canaveral. We were wondering what is earliest flight time allowable to use the luggage valet program? We have never use this program before and were hoping to save some time doing so. Our flight leaves at 11:30 AM on Southwest.

Hi Everyone, Looking to make a reservation on Harmony. As much as I would love an ocean view balcony, its not in the budget. :angry: :( Has anyone stayed in boardwalk or central park balconies? Advantages? Dislikes? Recommendations? Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks! Mel :)

Hi! Has anyone got a new copy of the Vitality spa list of services and prices? I wanted to see if they offered lash fill ins on board. Thanks in advance!

Well... today is the day! We were prepared in the usual fashion of pre-cruise excitement. For us, that means I obsess over the minutia, while typically missing the bigger picture of intentionally needing to relax ?? Our nails freshly manicured, our tans freshly sprayed, and our nose hairs freshly waxed, I was starting to feel better prepared! (Too TMI with the nose hairs? ... I’ll rein in the descriptors... But man... getting old sucks sometimes). We are sailing out of Orlando today on Harmony of the Seas. Of COURSE I’m up at 5am eagerly anticipating embarkation on one of our favorite ways to vacation. I’ll try to keep this as ‘live’ as possible! (Hence the Ron Burgundy question mark at the end of the title). I just wanted to post some tidbits that we are learning along the way. We are doing a lot of firsts on this cruise! This is our first junior suite, our first time purchasing The Key, our first time booking UDP, first cruise ship escape room, first time maybe eating in CK, first sailing out of Port Canaveral, and first time in Harmony OTS. We originally booked a New Zealand cruise during our Cuban cruise on Empress last year. We saved and saved, but ended up canceling around June due to scheduling conflicts. This cruise was a spur of the moment purchase in our desperation to take a reprieve from work... so we just said “the heck with it” and went all in with the bells and whistles (well... all the bells and whistles as far as we can afford...I’m the cheap one in the marriage by the way). Thanks for joining!

Hello friends! Sailing a week from today on a 7 night out of PC. Planning on dining within CK for the week does anyone know if they offer a special "Holiday" menu for Thanksgiving Day? Staying in an OS, never heard any feedback from Royal Up albeit I sent in a minimum bid, not even a thanks but no thanks we are full. Expecting our contact from the concierge sometime this week, most likely in a few days as @WAAAYTOOO explains. If you do not have the UDP would you prefer CK or pony up for a specialty restaurant that evening? Thanks so much

Anyone experience this excursion? I booked through Resortsforaday and was trying to figure out how close it is, (says 5 minute walk from ship) and if it is worth the cost? Thanks so much!

First I knew going in how expensive this sailing would be and I booked late, so the cost was substantial. I booked the last owners suite but wanted the crown loft that was unavailable. The crown loft showed up after I was paid in full for almost $3,000.00 cheaper (could I have been mistaken?) so I was told if I wanted to change I would lose the price difference, ah no thank you! So yesterday I receive my Royal Up offers and loan behold there is the crown loft I was hoping , for a minimum bid of $300.00 pp I was so confused, I thought it was a great deal less for this particular sailing. I placed a very minimal bid for the 2 bedroom aqua suite just in case but honestly I am very unsettled about this whole crown loft situation, ( I made no bid on it ) can anyone make this clearer to me then mud? Thank you in advance for your insight, you guys are fantastic! Sailing November 24, 2019 out of PC

Hello~ I would like to confirm for my upcoming sailing a question about CK. We will be dining there every evening and forgo the MDR on this our 1st RCCL sailing. ( I like acclimating in a much smaller venue) I checked the app and the menu's are pretty much listed albeit I know some may not be that accurate. If we go to CK and notice an offering on the MDR menu (mushroom soup vs tomato for an example) may we order it? Secondly, is it a huge pain in the a$$ to do this to the wait staff? I know they work hard enough and don't want to be "that person" who messes with the servers timing etc. If he has to run all over the ship I don't believe I would do this (except for lobster night but we will give them the heads up before that evening) Basically just because I may doesn't mean I should? Thank you for your thoughts, I also don't want to take the server from the other tables they have if this is a long process, then I totally would not enjoy what I thought I would! Thanks everyone.

Please @Love2Cruise2002 & @WAAATOOO and anyone else who would like to chime in, we are sailing in 36 days and are told the sailing is pretty much full. Never heard anything from Royal Up yet so we will be in an OS deck 11. Our embarkation lunch we plan to go to the CK on 17, is this super crowded on embarkation day? With the SL open 11-11 can we get a glass of wine with lunch as the amenity? We have the refreshment package as when I did the math even with our max of possibly 4 glasses a day, and even that is a stretch, it would not make sense cost wise to purchase the DBP At what time should we expect to be allowed into our stateroom? I am a 50 something mom and I am excited like a little kid, I just can't wait. Any additional advice for this first time family? Thanks so much!!

Clarification request please? We have the refreshment package booked and are staying in the owners suite so have access to CK. What are the hours of the cocktail hour within CK? While we really don't imbibe to much I will have a glass of wine with dinner. So specifically if we are eating within CK at 1745hrs each evening may I order wine with dinner included within the lounge amenity? Do I have to go and retrieve it for myself before being seated? Either way is fine just hate looking like I am a first timer, (even though we are lol) Also, TY to everyone here, I was just able to pull up all of the menu's on my RCCL app because someone else here said they were available. Sailing 11/24/2019 Harmony Good evening, Denise

Hello Everyone~ When ordering room service will they bring your beverages also? I know you get a large cup to fill yourself at the drink stations. We have the refreshment package and were wondering would they also bring mock tails in addition to bottled water and such? Thanks so much!

The TA our group is using explains that our Thanksgiving cruise is pretty much booked solid, albeit I ghost booked on line and that does not seem to be the case. Does anyone know how many Royal Up offers are sent out? Why when clearly the suites seem to be all accounted for? Does everyone sailing receive this? I received 4 different staterooms (we are in an OS) they sent a Royal Suite, 2 & 1 bedroom Aqua as well as the CL but my current OS was more money at booking then the CL so there is no way I am bidding additional monies for it. My mindset was we have Sky benefits so I only bid on the Star suites. Royal Caribbean is magical, making me excited to want to "win" the opportunity to pay more money, why am I so giddy? (as an aside, my husband of 30 years, ah not so much! "What, you want to pay more?? ) Taheeheeehee, the man is a SAINT. As always thank you for your insight and feedback

Good Morning~ Was going to purchase the plastic luggage tag sleeves as recommended here on the blog but then I read that Grand Suite and above have them mailed, is this still true? I have no problem printing but if they send them with this category of stateroom I will forgo ordering the plastic sleeves, thanks again everyone! 43 days to go, so excited

@Matt & whomever else would be so kind to input please? I am interested in the automatic gratuity breakdown. I will pay 17.50 per day per person, how is that broken down? Head Server, Server, Assistant Server, Stateroom Host? I also surmise this is collected and shared with the "back of the ship" but this is a Thanksgiving (Holiday) sailing & believe cash would be a nicer option. When I dine landside even when using a credit card I always leave a cash gratuity and have been told time and time again the servers prefer this. I have no problem adding cash at the end to the automatic charge like other posters have offered, but I like to know the specifics. I appreciate your knowledge, thank you!

Does the RC Harmony have something like a "magicband" wristband or something of this nature to serve as a Sea Pass Card? If so would you recommend? Where and when would you purchase them, I can't find anything like this on my cruise planner. I am not a fan of pockets or lanyards. Just curious for any input you can afford us, thanks again!

Hello all! Hope all is well with each of you and you are safe and sound. We are scheduled to depart on Harmony of the Seas 15 Sept 2019 out of Port Canaveral. I have been stressing about storms around that area or storms around the ports. On average, how often are cruises cancelled altogether because of hurricanes? Do they ever change departure ports because of damage at an original departure port? We are travelling from Australia and have had this trip planned for 1.5 years now. Our family is meeting us in Port Canaveral. It looks like some itineraries have changed over the past week due to Dorian and there may be some changes over the next week or so. I'm just thinking about a worst-case scenario situation such as leaving from Miami instead of Port Canaveral, or even Tampa, or Jacksonville. Maybe leaving on a different date or staying longer. I know there's a lot of information out there already. Finding it is the fun part. Any feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

HI Everyone Is Anyone Sailing On Harmony Sep. 15 2019. If So Comment Below. So I Can Add You To The List.

I thought it might be kinda fun to look at some of the differences between the Harmony and the Oasis/Allure. Deck 4 - The Blaze nightclub on the Allure/Oasis has become the Comedy Club on the Harmony. The old Comedy Club on the A/O is now the Diamond Lounge on the H. There is no Blaze nightclub at all on the H. Deck 5 - The Starbucks that is on the Promenade on the A/O is gone (you will see that H has moved it to the Boardwalk when you get to Deck 6). The Champagne Bar on the A/O will be a bionic bar on the H. The complementary restaurant on the A/O is called Silk. On the H this restaurant is named Chic. Deck 6 - It appears that they have removed 2 of the interior rooms that they added during the A/O refurb. The Starbucks has been moved from Deck 5 up to Deck 6 on the H. Either the donut shop on the A/O has been removed on the H or they just haven't finished naming all of the little shop/retail areas on the Boardwalk of the H (a number of these spaces are just labeled "retail" at the moment. No doubt they will fill those names in later). The space that is labeled "Candy Beach/Star Pier" on the A/O is now an Arcade on the H. The bar that was smack, dab in the middle of the back of the Boardwalk on the A/O has been moved over closer to the Sabor restaurant. This seems like a good move. That bar was really in the way, IMO. Deck 8 - It looks like they have removed 1 interior room on the starboard side of the ship Deck 10 - It looks like they have converted/combined a couple of the smaller balcony rooms into Grand Suites. There are 6 GS on the Harmony (3 starboard, 3 port) and only 4 on the A/O (2 each side) Deck 11 - They have added 1 new interior room the front cluster of the ship. Again they have converted/combined some smaller balcony rooms into GS. Same config as Deck 10, 6 vs 4. What was the lower level of the Diamond Club on the A/O is now Wonderland restaurant on the H. It appears as if they have removed the Library that is on the A/O completely from the H. The 2 Grand Suites that they added to the aqua theater area on the A/O during drydock are now AquaSuite rooms on the H. They are much bigger than the GSs on the A/O. The GS on the A/O are 466 ft sq (room) 470 ft sq (balcony). On the H, these new AS rooms (classified A4) are 606 ft sq (room) and 626 ft sq (balcony). Deck 12 - Same conversion/combinations of balconies becoming GS. What was the upper level of the Diamond Club on the A/O is also Wonderland restaurant on the H. Similarly, the GS added to the aft during drydock for A/O are now AS (A4). These GS were 433/362 ft sq and the new AS are 604/631 ft sq. Deck 14 - The GS added to the aft during drydock for the A/O are again AS (A4). The GS were 421/136 ft sq. The new AS are 562/589 ft sq. Deck 15 - There appears to be some changes to the H2O zone (kids' pool area). It looks like they have added a water slide and made some other modifications. They seem to have moved the Wipe Out Café on the A/O a little bit and it's called Mini Bites on the H. Deck 16 - Either they have removed the Mast Bar that is on the A/O or they just haven't named it yet on the H. That space is just empty on the H deck plans. Deck 17 - Very curious. It looks as if they have removed both of the Royal Suites with balcony (RS) rooms on the A/O and replaced them with much smaller Crown Loft Suites (L2) on the H. It also looks like the Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen on the H are much smaller than the they are on the A/O. So, unless I have missed something (entirely possible) they have completely removed the biggest suites on the ship - the Royal Suites. Perhaps they had trouble keeping them sold since they are SOOOOO expensive. Who knows. Deck 18 - They have added a new upper level on the H that serves as the water slide launch area. So...once again they seem to be downgrading the Diamond Lounge, relegating it to some small, interior area on Deck 4 vs the beautiful glass area that it currently has on the O/A and have eliminated the Concierge Lounge completely (as both the Oasis and the Allure have as well). There are probably plenty of reallocation/changes of different staterooms/categories throughout the decks that I missed. I did not look at every room nor its category. I just got the ones that kinda stood out.

We are cruising on the Harmony on August 4th. Myself, husband and 12 & 13 year old. I have several questions I'm having a hard time finding answers to.... please help if you can ? 1. Communication? We can't afford the VOOM package for all four of us but we have to communicate with the kids. Most are saying the texting doesn't work well on the new app. We have android so can't try the "free" iphone hack. If the app doesn't give you a notification of a message how is that even helpful? Isn't the best part of cruising NOT checking your phone every five minutes ? 2. Photo Package? We've had good and bad experiences with ship photographers. I don't want to buy the package for digital prints before we go in case we don' t have many good ones. However, the price is totally worth it compared to hiring a photographer here at home. Can we purchase at the end of the cruise and if so, is it less expensive? 3. "Teen" activities? I'm hearing many people mention the teen activities end up being all together and not separated between 12-14 and 15-17. My newly 12 year old is not ready for, nor has any interest in hanging out around 17 year olds. Anyone have experience with that? This is our first trip without the kids in the "Kids" club. 4. App schedule? Your experience with the app... So far our dinner and show reservations are accurate on the app. Many have mentioned the on board activities in the cruise compass do not align with the app. What was your experience? And, once on board and we "add them to our calendar" will they show up on our personal calendar similar to our dining reservation? 5. Clothes? Any tips on getting very active teens to dress nicely? They only wear t-shirts and athletic shorts without argument. I can get my son to wear "golf" shirts but still with athletic shorts ? 6. Themes? Are there theme nights we really need to prepare for? Any other tips greatly appreciated. We aren't new to this but new to teens and a giant boat!!!

Hello! It's me again @Neesa I would like to know from personal experience your thoughts. We are sailing Harmony in the Owners suite so we have some suite perks. We don't usually drink alcohol because we don't drink in front of our teen (don't want her to think it's "cool") We are bottle water drinkers but not Aquafina due to the added salt etc. We are coffee drinkers especially iced latte types as well as we will sneak (crazy right?) when our daughter isn't around to see; a frozen rum drink or 2, we do not drink soda at all. The Deluxe drink package in our planner is 49.99 per person per day, it's says this is at a cost savings to total over $800.00 for the week. Is this truly a discounted cost? Does the concierge lounge have bottled water to help yourself to? I want to make an educated decision, just not sure of all of the facts to make it. I am not a cheapskate but as I want to really enjoy my sailing I don't enjoy being wasteful either. I appreciate your thoughts, have a wonderful day!

I figured I should start a separate thread instead of continuing to hijack the DBP debacle thread! ? Hopefully, if you have booked a sailing on Harmony in APRIL 2021 you have already received the e-mail from Royal and/or your TA confirming the cancellation of the APRIL 2021 sailings due to the routine 5-year maintenance dry-dock. If you have not been notified, you will probably want to read this thread and reach out to your TA or Royal CS ASAP... *** Once again, I cannot thank you all enough, especially @AshleyDillo, @Andrew3232 and @Skid for giving me the extra push today to inquire now! Long story short, my wife and I booked Harmony of the Seas for the 4/18/21 sailing out of Port Canaveral. While we were still on Allure this past May, we had all discussed booking a cruise on Harmony in 2021. We later checked out the schedule and realized it only was open/available through APR 2021. At first we were going to wait for the Summer 2021 schedule to be released, but we had been told it would not be out until late summer or fall so we decided to book it on 6/21/19. Over this past weekend, the April 2021 schedule for Harmony mysteriously disappeared from Royal's website. We had been checking regularly to make sure the adjacent staterooms were still available while our friends prepared to book their room through their TA. I called Royal CS and sent an IM through the Facebook page TODAY inquiring because it seemed a little odd. I had read a little while ago here on the forum that Harmony was due for the routine 5-year dry-dock in 2021 and that made me a little nervous! Both responses from Royal assured me it was a system glitch and that they can still see all of the APR 2021 sailings on their end for Harmony. I told Royal CS that our friends wanted to book the same cruise and they provided a telephone number for them to call to make the reservation for our sailing! Tonight, I sent another message via Facebook IM explaining what I was told (Harmony dry-dock) and this time they confirmed and instructed me to contact our TA for assistance and to discuss the "compensation" package! We called our travel agent and they called Royal this evening for the details of the compensation package for our cancelled sailing. At first, Royal CS claimed they already sent us the e-mail explaining our options. We explained to the TA we never got the e-mail and he pushed Royal to provide the e-mail address and they finally admitted it was sent to an invalid/defunct e-mail that wasn't even ours! They resent the e-mail which gives us a deadline of 7/11/19 to make our decision. If we had missed this deadline the cruise would be cancelled and the deposit would be refunded automatically, but we would not get the "compensation" package. For those with any interest, here is the e-mail we received and our options: Basically, Option #1 looks to be the most attractive as it offers all 11 Oasis class sailings on all 3 ships (Allure, Oasis & Symphony) in APR 2021 (same month we were to sail Harmony). Oasis and Allure will be amped. The best part is we lock in the current cabin rate for the same balcony stateroom category regardless of the sailing/ship (we got an awesome group rate for that Harmony sailing through our TA... about $400 cheaper than the Royal sale pricing)! They also will give us $200 OBC (non-suite staterooms), plus we can keep the original perks and OBC originally offered from the TA. I believe we may have to pay for additional taxes, etc., for the difference in prevailing rate. Option #2 allows you to pick any available cruise, but you need to pay the difference between the original stateroom rate and the new rate. Everything else, including OBC, is the same. Option #3 is simply to cancel the cruise and get a full refund of any amounts paid. Needless to say, we're going for Option #1! Looking at Symphony now on Royal's dime! Hmmm... I like the 4/17/21 sailing that includes both Labadee AND Perfect Day at CocoCay! The 4/10/21 & 4/24/21 sailings are effectively the same itinerary as our original 4/18/21 Harmony cruise. Wow! The Labadee/Perfect Day cruise is currently $950 more than what we paid for the same cabin on Harmony! Hmmm... OK, the wife is researching and reaching out to our friends... clock is ticking for us to decide... need to make out decision once again by 7/11/19! Fortunately, this occurred less than two weeks after our booking and almost two years before the cruise, so we can't complain as we were not inconvenienced like many others have been with cancellations much closer to their sailing. I just wanted to make sure no one misses out on the nice "compensation" package offered for these APR 2021 cancellations! ?

Hi all! We're celebrating the wifes 40th with a 2020 7 day cruise on Harmony. As part of her birthday gift I'm considering buying her a 1 hour massage but I'm not sure which one to pick? Any suggestions/input? Those availabe seems to be swedish, elemis deep tissue, aroma stone, bamboo, thai herbal...

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!!!

Just to be up front, don't expect anything fancy. Check out my previous LIVEish