harmony LIVEish, 7 Days on Harmony (05/12/2018 or 12/05/2018 add to the mix May 12, 2018)

[CGTLH]

Have no fear @Lovetocruise2002 I will indeed being doing my live blog in hopefully all its usual glory.

 

Finally, my turn again to set sail! As you might have guessed based on the topic I'll be setting sail onboard Harmony of the Seas.

This will be my second time onboard Harmony and sailing ninth sailing on an Oasis class ship.

Itinerary brief, Eastern: Ft. Lauderdale, Sea Day, Sea Day, St. Maarten, San Juan, Labadee, Sea Day, Eviction in Ft. Lauderdale

An idea of what is to come can be seen on my last LIVEish from January on Oasis

Only one new toy this time around, a new laptop. While my Surface Pro 3 has been a great travel companion, it has started to show its age. Last month I was able to get a deal on a discontinued display model Lenovo Flex5 at Costco. Only difference the new model has is a better GPU. Only other thing tech-wise this cruise will be an experiment that involves nonstandard use of tcp/5223.

It’s Friday and the day just started, plus I still have a long day of travel ahead of me. I’m sure I’ll still be up for some time with final packing and other tasks.

Keep an eye open on the Twitter and Periscope feeds listed in my signature. Can’t guarantee I’ll be active on those platforms, but I might do a few quick scopes.

 

Ohh yeah, forgot. The 360 camera was replaced and I'll make plans to use it early on this cruise, maybe.

[twangster]

Following!

[Sweety]

Following. I will be on Harmony, April 2019.

[JLMoran]

7 hours ago, CGTLH said:

Eviction in Ft. Lauderdale

LOL!

And following!

[Lovetocruise2002]

Following! And going to find you on Periscope now 

[tiny260]

Following.

[Matt]

Woohoo!

[KLA]

Looking forward to following along!

[RamblingRandie]

Have a great trip. Harmony right now is on my bucket list of ships to sail on. Unfortunately unless I win the lottery it will be a few years.  So I will just have to live vicariously through you.

[Lovetocruise2002]

50 minutes ago, RamblingRandie said:

Have a great trip. Harmony right now is on my bucket list of ships to sail on. Unfortunately unless I win the lottery it will be a few years.  So I will just have to live vicariously through you.

@RamblingRandie, go through the calendar.  There are some sailings on Harmony that aren't that bad in price.  You have to comb through it though.  Love Harmony.  My favourite ship so far!

[tiny260]

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

There are some sailings on Harmony that aren't that bad in price.  You have to comb through it though.  Love Harmony.  My favourite ship so far!

Would you find one for me please, Summer of 2020, oh wait, those itineraries are not out yet, lol...

[Guy Gadwa]

Following!! 

[CGTLH]

Thanks everyone for following along.

Just wanted to report I've made it to the halfway point, Orlando.

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, tiny260 said:

Would you find one for me please, Summer of 2020, oh wait, those itineraries are not out yet, lol...

Not a chance, summer is always crazy.  Unless you go near the end of August (which I totally would if I did not have to go back to work the first week of September).

[Matt]

15 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Just wanted to report I've made it to the halfway point, Orlando.

You've entered the vacation zone!

[Ray]

15 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Not a chance, summer is always crazy.  Unless you go near the end of August (which I totally would if I did not have to go back to work the first week of September).

 you could just write a note to the teacher saying you're ill? lol 

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Thanks everyone for following along.

Just wanted to report I've made it to the halfway point, Orlando.

Keep an eye out for this man.  Apparently he is on the loose:

 

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, twangster said:

Keep an eye out for this man.  Apparently he is on the loose:

 

That was the funniest scope.  I did not have a clue what was going on, but @Matt's voice and facial expressions were hilarious!

Totally hijacking @CGTLH's blog here...sorry.

[Boston Babe]

Following, have a great trip!! 

[CGTLH]

13 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

...

Totally hijacking @CGTLH's blog here...sorry.

Doesn't bother me on bit. Love all the off topic conversations.

Reminds me of how @Matt's scopes will derail to a conversation about pizza or Del Taco 

[twangster]

8 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

...will derail to a conversation about pizza

Not even on the ship or at the terminal and it's become about pizza already.  Sigh. 

[tiny260]

59 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Not a chance, summer is always crazy.  Unless you go near the end of August (which I totally would if I did not have to go back to work the first week of September).

Well, since I'm going on the BIG one in March (Flying to Sydney!!!), I'll probably be looking for Fall break, lol.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, tiny260 said:

Well, since I'm going on the BIG one in March (Flying to Sydney!!!), I'll probably be looking for Fall break, lol.

When will that be?  I'll be combing through the calendar for myself for Fall 2020-2021 as I can be more flexible with dates that year.  I'll let you know if I spot anything.

[tiny260]

Fall break for my wife's school (In Oklahoma) is usually the middle of October, like this year it is October 15th.

The itineraries aren't out past April of 2020 are they?

[Matt]

43 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Reminds me of how @Matt's scopes will derail to a conversation about pizza or Del Taco 

Did someone say tacos, bagels or pizza?

[CGTLH]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

Did someone say tacos, bagels or pizza?

When pizza’s on a bagel, you can eat tacos any time...

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, tiny260 said:

Fall break for my wife's school (In Oklahoma) is usually the middle of October, like this year it is October 15th.

The itineraries aren't out past April of 2020 are they?

Not yet.  I am watching for November this year...if they follow suit with last year.  The summer 2019 sailings for the Caribbean came out in November 2017.

[CGTLH]

Made it to Ft. Lauderdale, heading to the hotel right now. Uber XL to Embassy Suites on 17th, $20.

[JLMoran]

10 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Made it to Ft. Lauderdale, heading to the hotel right now. Uber XL to Embassy Suites on 17th, $20.

Enjoy the hotel! That's where we stayed before our sailing; beautiful atrium, nice pool area, and fantastic complementary breakfast. Pretty friendly bar staff, too.

[CGTLH]

So far my "nonstandard use" of tcp/5223 is working.

 

Spoke too soon. Seems that my phone was dual connected to both the hotel network and cellular data at the same time.

Darn, guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

[twangster]

7 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

So far my "nonstandard use" of tcp/5223 is working.

[CGTLH]

42 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Enjoy the hotel! That's where we stayed before our sailing; beautiful atrium, nice pool area, and fantastic complementary breakfast. Pretty friendly bar staff, too.

Thanks, it is a very nice property. Not sure now how many times I've stayed here.

Plus it has a nice shopping center right next to it.

[CGTLH]

Not much to report for today other than I made it to Ft. Lauderdale. Was on the road from around 7:30 am until 5:30 pm. Checked in the hotel, Embassy Suites on 17th. As in May, booked on the "Premium Suites" floor. For the most part all I can tell is it gets you access to a vending machine with drinks (water, orange juice, Sprite, Coke, and Diet Coke) and snacks. Cost to upgrade wasn't that much, maybe 5-10 dollars.

Bit of advice, get the snacks early. Just check out the photos taken a few hours apart.

Another nice this about Embassy Suites is their happy hour with drinks and snacks. Then again, don't think I've really ever heard of the brands of spirits used.

Few other advantages of Embassy Suites is the shopping center right behind it, wound up having a burger a Gilberts. If you happened to need a few bottles of wine to take aboard there is a Publix and Total Wine. Also nice having the port right around the corner.

 

Just a few shots of the inside and outside...

 

 

[CGTLH]

Biggest tip ever: Make sure you "print"/save a copy of your SetSail pass as a PDF. Then place a copy of it with means to be accessed from another computer.

Somehow either forgot to bring them or never printed them. But the Business Center saved the hassle of having to be manifest verified.

 

Now off topic: Heading back to the room I did some snack machine recon, looking empty...

[hayley_bopp]

Looking forward to following along with your cruise  

[twangster]

Some one had the munchies...

[LandstromCruise]

Excited to follow along. Was on Harmony a couple months ago and loved it! 

[CGTLH]

Morning all, packing backup the various chargers and such. Didn't get a chance to grab a shot of the breakfast spread, just my breakfast.

Looked out the windows and saw my home for the next 7 days...

Wait, wrong ship...

 

Ahh, here we go. There she is hiding in the background!

 

Next stop, Terminal 18. Sure I'll be leaving the hotel in the next 30 minutes or so.

[twangster]

2 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Wait, wrong ship...

Be careful what you wish for...

[CGTLH]

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

Be careful what you wish for...

Know this is blasphemy comment... Wouldn't mind trying Carnival again. Last time was when Carnival Dream just came out. I'm a legacy platinum with 10 total sailings.