Ray Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 1 hour ago, JLMoran said: Wait, the lead singer from Australian band Men At Work is originally from Scotland?!? Learn something new every day! And yes, Overkill is one of their best. Yeah us scots get everywhere lol i mean 9 of the signatures on the declaration of independence are Scottish and 34 presidents have ancestral roots to scotland And of course probably the most famous rock band from Oz (ACDC) had the Young brothers from Kirriemuir JLMoran, mom2mybugs and ellcee 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruising to Retirement! Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 16 hours ago, Joe01 said: FINAL THOUGHTS: Would you sail Harmony again? Yes!, Harmony is a great ship with a pretty awesome crew and a great lineup of shows. Thanks again for the great blog! We are getting even more excited for our Sept. 1st sailing! Thanks for providing your Western itinerary compass from July 7th. We are on the Eastern itinerary like you were the week before! We would really appreciate if you would provide that Eastern itinerary compass as well since there is not a single one for this itinerary in the compass section! Get some rest for a bit before starting to plan your next cruise adventure!!! Michelle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 Let's talk about crew. Harmony is no longer the newest or largest ship in the fleet, however, I would say that she has now evolved from that role into a ship with a big heart. General vibe is great and that is mainly down to a great crew. Marc Walker was CD for Week 1 and Dennis Charles was CD for Week 2. Marc is probably my new favourite CD now that Abe Hughes has left. Absolutely hilarious at L&M and great joie de vivre that really helped the atmosphere on the ship. I actually liked Dennis more than I thought I would - he still has plenty of energy and did a decent job hosting, although I missed a few events due to being sick or due to poor scheduling (not his fault, I'll mention later). He was also friendly and patient when my mother asked him a question about customs (unrelated to Cruise Directing). My criticisms would be that he talked for too long at L&M and it kinda dragged with some of the audience walking out. He also needs to stop shouting into his microphone at events, we can hear him easily. If he can cut those two things out, he would definitely be one of the best. Either way, both of these guys were SO MUCH BETTER than Bobby Brown. Moe was Activities Manager both weeks - he was good fun. Did have slight problems sometimes understanding his Fiji accent. He is moving to be entertainment manager on CocoCay after the current sailing, glad that I got to sail with him before he left ships. I have sailed with Captain Gus several times and both him and Captain Johnny are my favourites, so it's great that they are both assigned to the same ship. Both have a very upbeat presence and are probably the only two Captains active on social media. Both seem to be friendly and enjoy being around guests. Our stateroom attendant Vibert Joseph was fantastic. Such a sweet guy and did a great job. I did mention earlier that I would like a decrease in how frequent they clean the rooms, and I still feel the same way. Staff around the ship ranged. Some were excellent (shout out to team at Starbucks). Plenty of awesome crew on Harmony, although I can't remember much names. A few duds - server on Week 2 at CocoCay seemed intimidating and was quite difficult to communicate with, and I felt as if he kind of ignored me. Sorrento's staff were mixed, a few friendly ones but there was one real dud that really seemed to be going through the motions and got the wrong order one night (instead of 2 cheese slices, it was 1 cheese and 1 half pepperoni - half of the base was missing). Cafe Promenade and Park Cafe were OK, but I felt that with these 3 eateries, they needed to bring Latisha Jones from HM 2017 back to train them and improve the mood in these venues which was sometimes a bit dour. Everyone else that we met was friendly. Great crew on this ship. Cruising to Retirement!, Lovetocruise2002, The Cruise Junkie and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 First post cruise workout done. What happened to the saying - "calories don't count"? Adpcruise1, JLMoran, The Cruise Junkie and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MotleyCruiser Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 Are you still going to post pictures? Joe01 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 56 minutes ago, MotleyCruiser said: Are you still going to post pictures? Yes! Don't worry - will post ASAP. mom2mybugs, MotleyCruiser, spiralqueen and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 Positive of being home is that the Starbucks actually tastes good here. Pics starting tonight! CFL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 (edited) Photo time! iHop in Orlando (breakfast on Saturday June 29th): And some random shots from walking around Orlando: Edited July 17, 2019 by Joe01 CFL, JLMoran, Lovetocruise2002 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 Day 1 Windjammer food (Getting very hungry now): Disney ship sailing past as the sun sets: CFL, Lovetocruise2002, mom2mybugs and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 Day 2 - Perfect Day at CocoCay (photos should speak for themselves): spiralqueen, Deedeelynn, Traveler and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2019 Ask away about CocoCay. Please note that it is better to click on the photos as that makes them look more crisp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floski Posted July 18, 2019 Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 Dumb question that I haven't seen addressed yet - for those big slides - do you have to walk all the way up there? You do know that fat people don't like to climb stairs, right? JLMoran and Deedeelynn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Floski said: Dumb question that I haven't seen addressed yet - for those big slides - do you have to walk all the way up there? You do know that fat people don't like to climb stairs, right? The CocoCay slides? I didn't use them, but it seems so. Can't imagine it being too fun - the stairs from Deck 15 to the top of the slides on the ship were enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 More photos tonight! What is your vote - amped Oasis from NJ or amped Allure from Barcelona? Decisions, decisions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2mybugs Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 5 hours ago, Joe01 said: More photos tonight! What is your vote - amped Oasis from NJ or amped Allure from Barcelona? Decisions, decisions... What are the ports...for me it would be Europe every time but you are from there so the novelty isn’t there but maybe easier to travel? Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 8 minutes ago, mom2mybugs said: What are the ports...for me it would be Europe every time but you are from there so the novelty isn’t there but maybe easier to travel? Jane Bayonne, Port Canaveral, Perfect Day at CocoCay, Nassau for Oasis. Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Marseilles, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, Naples for Allure. I've been to all of these ports, and personally, the ports on both suck with one good one each (CocoCay and Naples). The Allure itinerary might look attractive to an American but as a European, my opinion is that this is a very basic Med itinerary and I cannot, for the life of me, understand why they have only 1 at sea day on an Oasis Class (it has to be 3, even 2 didn't work on the 2nd leg of this cruise). Marseilles is a total waste and should have been cut from this itinerary years ago (and that's from someone who likes France). The Med itinerary that you are doing on Vision is one of the best for people trying to tour Europe. Barcelona is a shorter flight, but Bayonne is by far the easiest US departure port for me to sail from as United offers direct flights from both Glasgow & Edinburgh to Newark. mom2mybugs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLMoran Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 7 hours ago, Joe01 said: More photos tonight! What is your vote - amped Oasis from NJ or amped Allure from Barcelona? Decisions, decisions... If you solely want the ship and another visit to Perfect Day, then I would say go for amped Oasis. Her sailings from NJ will be, for me at least, boring beyond belief. Only ports she'll ever see are Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Coco Cay, so her time in NJ will truly be about making the ship the destination and checking out Perfect Day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 You know you have Post Cruise Depression when you miss the ship's gym... Much nicer than the godawful gym I go to at home - 8 weeks until my contract is up and I cannot wait. Shall we do a couple more photos? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) Night 2 food: Evening on the Promenade: And a little friend greeting us at the cabin... Edited July 21, 2019 by Joe01 mom2mybugs, Lovetocruise2002, The Cruise Junkie and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjac Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 On 7/19/2019 at 5:25 PM, JLMoran said: for me at least, boring beyond belief I totally agree with you Joe. Perhaps Royal's strategy is to offer this cruise so folks will stay on board while the ship is in port and spend more money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 English Muffin @ Park Cafe + Chocolate Donut. Always a favourite in the AM: Morning Show with Marc and onboard shopping expert Tommy (who made several appearances...where was Moe?): Then, the god-awful Let's Celebrate parade, repeated twice each sailing : The Cruise Junkie, Lovetocruise2002 and mom2mybugs 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 View from back of the ship in the morning: Abyss shots: And some shots of the AquaTheater prior to the Top Tier reception: The Cruise Junkie, mom2mybugs and Lovetocruise2002 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 Déjeuner: Dîner: And the Allure tradition lives on...Ice cream sandwich. The Cruise Junkie, Lovetocruise2002, Deedeelynn and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morganno Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 On 7/3/2019 at 9:44 PM, Joe01 said: They should! As should parenting classes, but that's another conversation... The elevator etiquette that I don't get is when people take the elevator up or down one deck. Marc called them out on the Morning Show - finally someone mentioned it. Hope you had a great time Joe. Fellow Scot here and living in Belgium, we are on 8/18 Harmony cruise after a Boston visit. Just wanted to post that any tutting or vocal comments on someone taking an elevator for 1 floor could make or break a holiday for the person with a disabilty. Not all disabilites are visible but can still be highly painful for people. Anyway enjoyed your blog and good luck with your studies. CruisinUpinLife and JLMoran 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisinUpinLife Posted August 8, 2019 Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 9 minutes ago, Morganno said: Hope you had a great time Joe. Fellow Scot here and living in Belgium, we are on 8/18 Harmony cruise after a Boston visit. Just wanted to post that any tutting or vocal comments on someone taking an elevator for 1 floor could make or break a holiday for the person with a disabilty. Not all disabilites are visible but can still be highly painful for people. Anyway enjoyed your blog and good luck with your studies. What a humble reminder. We should also save the elevator for those people and if we can just go up/down a few flights of stairs we should. Plus, let's be real, we could often use the little exercise from eating all the food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted August 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 13 minutes ago, Morganno said: Hope you had a great time Joe. Fellow Scot here and living in Belgium, we are on 8/18 Harmony cruise after a Boston visit. Just wanted to post that any tutting or vocal comments on someone taking an elevator for 1 floor could make or break a holiday for the person with a disabilty. Not all disabilites are visible but can still be highly painful for people. Anyway enjoyed your blog and good luck with your studies. Of course there are some people with disabilities, but there are several people that are just lazy and they make life harder for those that genuinely do struggle in these situations. Have a great cruise! Morganno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe01 Posted August 8, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2019 2 minutes ago, CruisinUpinLife said: What a humble reminder. We should also save the elevator for those people and if we can just go up/down a few flights of stairs we should. Plus, let's be real, we could often use the little exercise from eating all the food I don't think that we should save elevators as such, there are enough elevators to go around on Harmony, but I do like to use the stairs. I walked from Deck 6 to the Windjammer on Deck 16 several times onboard - you are right that many people could use the exercise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittysoul Posted August 14, 2019 Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 @joshvc i know this is an old post but stumbled upon it... and have to shout out to my favorite restaurant I ate at in Orlando ...was the Texas de Brazil.... was the first time any of my family had ever been to that type of place and it was so good... that was like in 2012 or so... and we have been to many Brazilian steakhouses since, but that one is still my favorite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted August 14, 2019 Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 9 hours ago, kittysoul said: was the Texas de Brazil.. Me too! Love Texas de Brazil. We've been to a few as well and that is my favourite! I love their Couscous from their salad bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittysoul Posted August 15, 2019 Report Share Posted August 15, 2019 5 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: Me too! Love Texas de Brazil. We've been to a few as well and that is my favourite! I love their Couscous from their salad bar. for me it was this bisque on the buffet area... i think it was a crab bisque... or may have been lobster... its been a while...but OMG, i could have spent the entire night just eating that soup and nothing else!! lol SO GOOD! Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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