Finding Harmony on Harmony??? HM 3/11/2023 – 3/18/2023

[Lovetocruise2002]

22 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I don’t remember the food at Cap’n Jacks ever being included.  I seem to recall that it wasn’t included even when we last cruised SC before COVID.  I recall being surprised by that given the fact that it’s just chicken wings ! …nothing special.

It definitely was included for us when we sailed Allure in December 2021. I know because I had the chicken wings and a frozen margarita there. 

[Ampurp85]

Do the water park cabanas have their own menus and include tickets to the water park for all guests?

Here's a funny thing, I am never actively looking forward to PDCC, probably because it's the only place we went constantly during the restart. However even though I say I not going to get off, I always do and mostly have a perfect day in some way.....usually because the casino is open in port and I have it to myself after getting a shack chicken sandwich.

[CrimsonCruiser]

Now that we're finally going to go to PDCC I'm loving looking at other people's adventures there. Thanks for letting us live through you, especially since we (just 2) are in no way getting any kind of cabana.

 

(I do with PDCC had bungalows like Labadee does for a lesser cost) but I'm okay with that. And, unlike most folks I am EXCITED to hear Perfect Daaaaaaaaaaaaay blasting through the ship

[Lovetocruise2002]

40 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

 

Do the water park cabanas have their own menus and include tickets to the water park for all guests?

 

Yes and yes (for a max of 6 guests).

[Mike6453]

19 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Now that we're finally going to go to PDCC I'm loving looking at other people's adventures there. Thanks for letting us live through you, especially since we (just 2) are in no way getting any kind of cabana.

 

(I do with PDCC had bungalows like Labadee does for a lesser cost) but I'm okay with that. And, unlike most folks I am EXCITED to hear Perfect Daaaaaaaaaaaaay blasting through the ship

If it is just two of you, I recommend the beach club ...super nice and chill also faces sunset so you have the sun longer. Drink service is nice as well. 

[asquared17]

i am BEHIND let me catch up.

welp how out of it am i?? i didn’t know that there was a second aqua show?? now i regret not getting tix for it; we will probably just pull our usual, hang out on the deck 7 wings and enjoy. thank you for the pictures of this!! once again, unlocking secrets for me

i really loved the picture of your dad in the bridge tour. it’s so special to me — my dad also loves cruising (he’s the one that got me into it) and we did a bridge tour when we were sky class back in the day (pre pandemic) and he was over the moon. what a great picture

so i am the opposite re: cococay - i actually LOVE it on the last day typically because the sea day tends to leave the pool deck with us feeling like sardines and we like to soak up the sun without people in our personal space (okay, mostly me J is much less bothered by this than i am)

i loved your secret hideaway cabana, and i really appreciate the “home base” for the troops very smart thinking!! next time your husband is sad about the $$, tell him to think about the memories and all the extra coordinating you do!! clearly there can be no price put on this experience

D16 is my kind of gal!!! enjoy that food!!!

also rip  i keep FORGETTING about the funnel cake that looked DELICIOUS 

@CrimsonCruiser heads up; we did the beach club last time as we had gotten the passes on the black friday sale and it was GREAT. wasn’t over the moon about the food but loved the peace and quiet. am curious if the new adult (hideaway?) beach will be calm and mellow too. well worth it in my opinion if you can get the passes on sale. 

[jbrinkm]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Yes and yes (for a max of 6 guests).

So the other 4 in your party kept their original water park tickets? And there was no problem with all 10 in your party coming and going from the Cabana?

[Ampurp85]

I guess as long as everyone can enjoy the food and cabana, the max of 6 tickets would be okay.

I am the minority as I thought the Beach club food was disgusting, the worst steak I had across any of my cruises. I also don't eat seafood, so maybe the lobster and ceviche are good. I see no value in the beach club but if the cabanas were $500 or less, I would see value in renting one when you have a large group of people who will need a homebase. 

[Mike6453]

17 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I guess as long as everyone can enjoy the food and cabana, the max of 6 tickets would be okay.

I am the minority as I thought the Beach club food was disgusting, the worst steak I had across any of my cruises. I also don't eat seafood, so maybe the lobster and ceviche are good. I see no value in the beach club but if the cabanas were $500 or less, I would see value in renting one when you have a large group of people who will need a homebase. 

I've done the Beach club twice once the food and service was great the second time the food was ok and service was bad. I bought both times on Black Friday and got goods deals based on the old prices. We like how quiet it is and the pool and drink service. We've done this both times on cruises without the kids. I totally here where you are coming from though.

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 hours ago, asquared17 said:

welp how out of it am i?? i didn’t know that there was a second aqua show?? now i regret not getting tix for it

It’s a “no reservations needed” show. You just have to look for it on the cruise compass and show up. So you are not out of it

7 hours ago, asquared17 said:

D16 is my kind of gal!!! enjoy that food!!!

That kid has always been a foodie lol

6 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

So the other 4 in your party kept their original water park tickets? And there was no problem with all 10 in your party coming and going from the Cabana?

Yes, my sister and her family kept their tickets and we all just used the cabana as a home base. Other than myself, the rest of them were barely in it anyway. No one bothered us about coming and going from the cabana. The Waterpark cabana food menu is exactly the same thing you find at the Snack Shack so we didn’t even end up ordering from the attendant. We just got our own food at different times. 
 

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Dinner Night 7 brought us to Izumi Hibachi. This was a hard one to arrange for a group of 10. We told Marla we wanted to squeeze together. Hibachi tables usually only seat 8. That was fine but we pretty much had to stick with the time that Marla grabbed for us. That was at 7:15pm tonight. We did not have to book it first pre-cruise. 
 

Like the other specialty restaurants, we have done this one before but the rest of my family has not. Hibachi is always fun! Lots of laughs! D14 finally caught the egg thrown at her this time (IYKYK). 
 

[Lovetocruise2002]

After Hibachi, we went to see iSkate. This show is a little more casual than 1887 and if you have time, you should definitely squeeze it in. It’s worth your time. 
 

Videos on IG…upload will likely take forever again. This is probably the worst wifi we have experienced in quite some time. Even our sailing to Norway was better than this!

[Lovetocruise2002]

That brings us to the end of our sailing. Marla is meeting us at 8:15am tomorrow and we booked the same shuttle service (private van for 10) to pick us up tomorrow. I will do final thoughts tomorrow. Need to catch a few hours of sleep first.

[asquared17]

ugh NO tomorrow the cursed — i mean WORST — day

i am looking forward to your final thoughts

[Jamesszy94]

The dreaded "t" (tomorrow) word!

Time really does go by so quick!! It was great reading your blog on Harmony... hope to read another blog from you soon...

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

I’ve been reading along but haven’t responded other than several and .  Thanks for bringing everyone along for your cruise.  Although I may not ever get the opportunity to cruise in any room larger than a JS it’s always fun to live vicariously through others!
My husband and I are bringing our family (13 in all) on an Oasis cruise this summer with 5 side by side balcony rooms and we are very much looking forward to making more memories (lol we already have 44 yrs of them) with our kids, their spouses, and 5 grandkids (ages 10 - 16).  It’s a long time coming since our original plans were made in 2019 for a 2020 cruise (3 years makes a big difference in kids years!)!  There are also 4 other relatives joining us (their rooms are just a few down from ours) to make the group 17 in all!  We are counting down the days!
Thank you again for taking us along on your vacation!  It’s been awesome….

[Lovetocruise2002]

24 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

I’ve been reading along but haven’t responded other than several and .  Thanks for bringing everyone along for your cruise.  Although I may not ever get the opportunity to cruise in any room larger than a JS it’s always fun to live vicariously through others!
My husband and I are bringing our family (13 in all) on an Oasis cruise this summer with 5 side by side balcony rooms and we are very much looking forward to making more memories (lol we already have 44 yrs of them) with our kids, their spouses, and 5 grandkids (ages 10 - 16).  It’s a long time coming since our original plans were made in 2019 for a 2020 cruise (3 years makes a big difference in kids years!)!  There are also 4 other relatives joining us (their rooms are just a few down from ours) to make the group 17 in all!  We are counting down the days!
Thank you again for taking us along on your vacation!  It’s been awesome….

Thank you for following along! That sounds like a fantastic sailing that you have coming up on Oasis. We all still have very fond memories of our trip on the Disney Fantasy back in 2017 with all 14 of us. Soak in all the memories.

[Lovetocruise2002]

This morning’s departure:

Marla came to pick us up at 8:15am, as promised. The priority for the elevators was nice as elevators have been very hard to catch all sailing. She lead us all the way to the Terminal building where we said our goodbyes She passed us off to Sergio. We met him last Saturday in the suites check in area. Sergio escorted our group all the way past customs right to the bus bay where our ride was waiting. The Miami departure process was extremely smooth again. From room to curb it was about 20mins tops. Probably faster if we didn’t have a group of 10. Five in our group did not pass facial recognition at customs and that slowed us down a few minutes. 

I highly recommend QLS transportation. They have been great from pre-cruise communication right to the very end. 
 

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Our Genie

Marla….where do I begin? 
 

I have heard many wonderful things through the years about Marla. It was such a blessing to be able to not just meet her, but sail with her, and get to know her. The rumours are true, Marla is wonderful. She is such a happy and genuine person, full of energy and laughter, who clearly has a passion for what she does.
 

It did not take her very long to read the different personalities in our group. She was great with the kids, and I will treasure some of our chats. She definitely read our survey as there were things she surprised us with that she would not have known otherwise. 

We are going to miss Marla dearly. Hoping to see her again in the near future

[Mike6453]

Thanks for taking us with you....just curious but how many suites/families was marla handling on the cruise?

And was it just her?

[Lovetocruise2002]

Star Class on HM (with a group of 10):

We have been so beyond blessed to have had several SC experiences at this point, both pre and post covid. I feel that allows us to make a reasonable comparison. This was our first SC sailing with a larger group. Here are some thoughts, not organized in any particular order:

- It was most definitely helpful to have a Genie on this sailing. There were many larger families this sailing and dining and activities would have been a pain to organize without Marla. 
 

- With our group, this time, saving of seats at the shows and laundry were probably the best perks. We sent out a lot of laundry! It was especially helpful for my sister with the younger ones. Every time someone spilled a milkshake or something, in the bag it went. Starbucks was also well used by all, except Hubby who does not drink coffee. 
 

- HM runs a “tighter ship” with their SC program. My biggest pet peeve is the loss of priority on the flow rider and slides. On other ships we have done, SC just doesn’t have priority during sea days between 1-4pm. HM has no priority at all for the flow rider and slides, regardless of the time. 
 

- HM also seems to be sticking to the rule where if you want food delivered to the room, it can only come from one single venue. Other ships are more flexible on this. 
 

- Because we wanted to do all dinners together, this SC sailing was probably the least flexible with dining times and switching. Our pre-cruise planing with Marla, we had to make some compromises on our dining times. Marla also warned us on the first day that it would be very hard to switch around dining times on the fly through the week. All of our other SC sailings with just the 4 of, switching around of times, even the day of, was never a problem. This is not a reflection on Marla at all. It was a sold out sailing, we saw many large groups at specialty, and on Day 2, we met another star class family that had 18 in their party (they booked 5 Aqua Theatre suites). All that likely contributed to the limited flexibility for dining. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, Mike6453 said:

Thanks for taking us with you....just curious but how many suites/families was marla handling on the cruise?

And was it just her?

HM has 3 genies at the moment. Marla, Luciano, and Raj (who is going home to get married in a couple of weeks). 
 

In my other post, there was a SC family with 18 in 5 Aqua theatre suites. They decided that one genie would take all of that group. That left Marla with us (another large group) and one other star suite. Raj has the remaining ones with smaller groups. Genies often switch around to accommodate various needs. They normally have 3 rooms per sailing and rotate the extra, but some weeks they move around depending on numbers. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

The Villa

@MamaSharkwas right. This room is perfect for a larger family. We did not find it to be a lack of space. Lots of room for all 10 of us. The only room that felt crowded was the freeloader room. That is the room without the ensuite bath. That room is essentially like a closet. But the kids enjoyed themselves. I am sure they have some great memories of their own in there. With the large balcony, there was plenty of space for everyone to spread out. 
 

Some downsides to this room:

- It was extremely noisy! Especially the room the we slept in, the creaking in there when the ship was moving was quite annoying. 
 

- There was also a lot of noise coming from running up above us and there were some episodes of “ding Dong ditch”. 
 

- It was pain to catch an elevator from Deck 12 on this sailing. Either way, going up or down, by the time the elevator reached 12, it was almost always full. 
 

Would I book this room again? If I had a large group, yes. If not, it’s back to Deck 17 for us. Even Hubby misses it lol. I still want to try the ATS, but only on SY or WN because it has a more open layout. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

How strict were they re: reserving seats for non-reservation venues ?  For instance, the second water or ice shows ?  Was Marla able to reserve seats for your group for those non-reservation events ?  How about non-reservation main theater productions ?

So, what is your Dad’s overall opinion of the Star Class experience now that he’s done it ?  

[Lovetocruise2002]

That’s it for now I think. I have the cruise compasses. At some point over the next week, I will scan and send to @Matt so look for them in the cruise compass section in a week or so. 
 

If there are any other questions, ask away. Happy to answer. 
 

Thanks for joining us. We had a wonderful time. It truly has been a week full of blessings and love. We are grateful. 
 

As for what is next? We are in dry dock now for the next few months. Wonder where we are headed next? @MamaShark might the winner on that one in an earlier post this week

[Lovetocruise2002]

18 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

How strict were they re: reserving seats for non-reservation venues ?  For instance, the second water or ice shows ?  Was Marla able to reserve seats for your group for those non-reservation events ?  How about non-reservation main theater productions ?

So, what is your Dad’s overall opinion of the Star Class experience now that he’s done it ?  

She was able to reserve all seats for us, at all shows, both reservations ones and non-reservation ones. We never went to Love and Marriage or those types of shows so I don’t know if she would have been able to do that. 
 

I think that my Dad thoroughly enjoyed himself this week. Moving forward, we gave him our blessing to use some of our inheritance to splurge for him and my Mom on future cruises. If anyone deserves it, it’s the two of them. He simply laughed. So who knows what he will do? Lol

 

 

 

[Neesa]

What a wonderful journey. I had so much fun on your cruise! I am so happy it worked out and your family will have forever memories. Thank you so much for taking us along, Cheers to you!

[Cruiser4Life]

Thank you for taking us along. I have so much gratefulness for everyone who blogs. DD13 very happy to arrive on Harmony CLS today and while having lunch at Jamie’s, she found her first duck ever so…..Here’s a little peek. I really hope to sail with people from this blog soon!

[Cruiser4Life]

 

 

[SweetPea]

Another epic Lovetocruise2002 cruise blog comes to end I'm sad its over, but i know you're beyond happy that it happened and you have some amazing memories you can cherish for the ages. Thanks again for taking the time to blog, despite the uncooperative wifi on the ship. 

[Jamesszy94]

 

8 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That’s it for now I think. I have the cruise compasses. At some point over the next week, I will scan and send to @Matt so look for them in the cruise compass section in a week or so. 
 

If there are any other questions, ask away. Happy to answer. 
 

Thanks for joining us. We had a wonderful time. It truly has been a week full of blessings and love. We are grateful. 
 

As for what is next? We are in dry dock now for the next few months. Wonder where we are headed next? @MamaShark might the winner on that one in an earlier post this week

I WONDER where you're headed next  . It was good reading the blog! Thanks for taking us along with you

[Floski]

Well, that was enjoyable!

I was really nervous for you and the weather in CA; glad y'all got on board with no problems.

The photos and write-ups were fantastic!

You have a beautiful family, and I think it's awesome that you guys are so close.

Thank you for taking so much time and effort to put this together.

[JohnK6404]

20 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

As for what is next? We are in dry dock now for the next few months. Wonder where we are headed next? @MamaShark might the winner on that one in an earlier post this week

Wonder in July, then I believe Odyssey next? ... I'm cheating, LOL!  

[MLH]

22 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Star Class on HM (with a group of 10):

We have been so beyond blessed to have had several SC experiences at this point, both pre and post covid. I feel that allows us to make a reasonable comparison. This was our first SC sailing with a larger group. Here are some thoughts, not organized in any particular order:

- It was most definitely helpful to have a Genie on this sailing. There were many larger families this sailing and dining and activities would have been a pain to organize without Marla. 
 

- With our group, this time, saving of seats at the shows and laundry were probably the best perks. We sent out a lot of laundry! It was especially helpful for my sister with the younger ones. Every time someone spilled a milkshake or something, in the bag it went. Starbucks was also well used by all, except Hubby who does not drink coffee. 
 

- HM runs a “tighter ship” with their SC program. My biggest pet peeve is the loss of priority on the flow rider and slides. On other ships we have done, SC just doesn’t have priority during sea days between 1-4pm. HM has no priority at all for the flow rider and slides, regardless of the time. 
 

- HM also seems to be sticking to the rule where if you want food delivered to the room, it can only come from one single venue. Other ships are more flexible on this. 
 

- Because we wanted to do all dinners together, this SC sailing was probably the least flexible with dining times and switching. Our pre-cruise planing with Marla, we had to make some compromises on our dining times. Marla also warned us on the first day that it would be very hard to switch around dining times on the fly through the week. All of our other SC sailings with just the 4 of, switching around of times, even the day of, was never a problem. This is not a reflection on Marla at all. It was a sold out sailing, we saw many large groups at specialty, and on Day 2, we met another star class family that had 18 in their party (they booked 5 Aqua Theatre suites). All that likely contributed to the limited flexibility for dining. 

 HM runs a “tighter ship” with their SC program. My biggest pet peeve is the loss of priority on the flow rider and slides. On other ships we have done, SC just doesn’t have priority during sea days between 1-4pm. HM has no priority at all for the flow rider and slides, regardless of the time. 

 

Note this on your survey.  Like you I do multiple STAR class and they need to have consistency throughout the fleet.  I have asked via twitter and FB regarding the priority and have been answered yes except between 1and 4 2 different times.  When travelling to Alaska I asked on twitter and was told yes, and then told the social media folks it wasn't happening.  Our genie then had me meet with the activies manager who explained they missed the memo on the change back.  Going on Allure in May and will raise holy heck if it is not that way.  I have screenshots of all of my conversations.

[GregD]

23 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I still want to try the ATS, but only on SY or WN because it has a more open layout. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

On 3/18/2023 at 1:48 PM, Neesa said:

Thank you so much for taking us along,

 

On 3/18/2023 at 2:46 PM, Cruiser4Life said:

Thank you for taking us along

 

On 3/18/2023 at 3:47 PM, SweetPea said:

Thanks again for taking the time to blog,

Thank you all for following along!

[Lovetocruise2002]

20 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

I WONDER where you're headed next

 

8 hours ago, JohnK6404 said:

Wonder in July, then I believe Odyssey next? ... I'm cheating, LOL!  

I wonder if it's possible that we have some winners?! lol

[Lovetocruise2002]

7 hours ago, MLH said:

Note this on your survey.

I will for sure. Not that I think it will make much of a difference...

6 hours ago, GregD said:

See you there neighbour/neighbor! 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Back to being home Genie now. Laundry is done, the Costco run has been made, and need to think of something to eat for dinner. Ending this off for now with a few pictures that D14 took. She thought it would go well with this blog. Harmony is a great ship still. It's well kept and in great shape. Thank you all for following, it's fun to be able to share. Until next time...

D14

Somewhere out at sea....

From the beach in St. Maarten

Docked in St. Thomas next to little Vision of the Seas

Thrill Waterpark, Perfect Day CocoCay

Just take me back....

[SweetPea]

DS14 has a great eye!