Harmony of the Seas - 7 Night Western Caribbean. Feb 16, 2025 - Feb 23, 2025

[JDFales]

2nd RCCL sailing but first time on a Oasis Class ship. Totally excited. Love to hear veterans with good advice for Harmony. I'm sailing with wife, 2 kids (9&11) my sis in-law and my niece (13). Any tips or good advice appreciated.

[tlrathfe]

So, this will be our 6th RCCL sailing, 2nd on Harmony of the Seas and 3rd on an Oasis class ship (we were on Symphony of the Seas in April of this year).  My adult son (disabled), wife, Daughter, Son in Law and 2 grand daughters are going on this sailing.  We love the oasis class ships, there is always something to do.  They don't roll up the sidewalks until well after midnight (if you want to party all night (drink etc.) the casino is open 24 hours on sea days).  So similar to the NFL, I have developed our "first 25 plays" (not really 25 things but rather what we do when getting onboard.  First, we like to board as early as possible (starts the vacation sooner sort of thing).  So, I am one of those crazies that stay up until midnight on the 45th day prior to sailing to check in so we can get the first check-in time possible. Next, we always fly in the day before sailing always.  In this case, I already have flight reservations, and our hotel booked for Galveston. So, embarkation day; I always ensure that we eat breakfast at the earliest time (when traveling I have always plan for my next meal) as we sometimes don't know when we will eat when onboard.  I arrange transportation to arrive at the cruise terminal about 30 minutes prior to our check-in time.  Once checked in and on board we always go immediately to our muster station to complete the mandatory muster.  After that we usually get a cocktail (lol).  Then since this is an Oasis class ship, we will take our wow bands to have them programmed (was in the Bolero the past 2 Oasis cruise ships).  Next up is scheduling dining (this is the first time we purchased the 3-night dining package).  After scheduling dining, it will just about be time for lunch.  We enjoy going to Jaime's Italian for lunch on Embarkation Day (this is an extra charge (note: this year January 4 is national spaghetti day (another made up holiday)) but what is significant is that Jamie's had a 30% off on this day (we got lunch for 14.99 pp)). So, by the time we finish lunch (usually have lunch between 12 and 1230) rooms are open and we can drop off our carry-ons/backpacks.  The next item up for consideration is getting ready for the Sail Away party on the pool deck (always a fun time).  We have found that late dining in the dining room works the best for our family. Finally, the balloon drop at midnight on Embarkation Day is a must so take a late nap if you need to but enjoy the balloon drop it is a good party.  So that is a rough idea of what we do to get everything done, get fed, and OBTW, my recommendation is to avoid the Windjammer on Embarkation Day as it is mobbed.  Some alternates to Windjammer might be Cafe Promenade on deck 5, Sorento's Pizza deck 5 or Park Cafe in Central Park on deck 8 and Mini Bites on deck 15 (much like Baja fresh on other classes of ships) as all of these venues are open during embarkation.  I just need to find the menu for the Western Caribbean dining room to determine which nights we are going to spend in the Main dining room.  Also, just one more tip, we try to eat in the main dining room during as many lunches and breakfasts as we can (we just enjoy being served and sitting down).  I hope you find some value added in this post.  We are not the most experienced cruisers, but we do have our niche activities that we enjoy.  My name is Ted, and it's only 124 days until set sail WHOOOO HOOO!!!!