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Harmony of the Seas, Somewhat Live 5/19 -5/26


Hockeyman55

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Fantastic blog and stunning photos! Thanks so much for sharing!

Do consider the late traditional dining slot (8 or 8:30, depending on ship). Having done it myself, I can say that there wasn't one time when I went there feeling ravenous or wishing our dining slot was just a little bit earlier. And since we usually saw a show or did some other activity afterward, it wasn't like we were eating and going to bed right after. Service was great every night, and I think the staff wasn't feeling nearly as rushed or pressured as they might have with an earlier seating.

We normally eat at 6:30 when at home, so I attribute the lack of major hunger at 8:30 to the ready supply of snacking items you can get for free on board. Well, that and probably the sail-away margaritas I had most days!

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love the blog next time in Falmouth book the beach buggy ride with lunch ride was ok lunch was good but definitely jerk the real treat was the van ride through the real Jamaica it takes well over an hour to get there well over you will se how it really is and on the way back you will stop at a well guarded shopping mall for some shopping the poverty is incredible and right in the middle of the shanties is a mansion saw dozens of examples of this Jamaica is a fascinating place to visit but you must see it with a guide never alone

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@Hockeyman55 loved this blog! So happy that you and your family enjoyed Harmony and that all that planning played out well for you. Fantastic pictures! 

Your line about Cozumel made me laugh. We usually don't care much about the ports these days but whenever Cozumel is on the itinerary, we bring extra money! lol! 

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2 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@Hockeyman55 loved this blog! So happy that you and your family enjoyed Harmony and that all that planning played out well for you. Fantastic pictures! 

Your line about Cozumel made me laugh. We usually don't care much about the ports these days but whenever Cozumel is on the itinerary, we bring extra money! lol! 

We didn't plan on buying much but that changed once we saw the weather and cancelled our beach resort. That freed up some money. Next time though, we will be better prepared. Just something about being there that makes you just want to shop, lol

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2 hours ago, henrysea13 said:

love the blog next time in Falmouth book the beach buggy ride with lunch ride was ok lunch was good but definitely jerk the real treat was the van ride through the real Jamaica it takes well over an hour to get there well over you will se how it really is and on the way back you will stop at a well guarded shopping mall for some shopping the poverty is incredible and right in the middle of the shanties is a mansion saw dozens of examples of this Jamaica is a fascinating place to visit but you must see it with a guide never alone

Yeah we got warned ahead of time not to leave the port by ourselves. Next time we would like to go on a tour

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3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Fantastic blog and stunning photos! Thanks so much for sharing!

Do consider the late traditional dining slot (8 or 8:30, depending on ship). Having done it myself, I can say that there wasn't one time when I went there feeling ravenous or wishing our dining slot was just a little bit earlier. And since we usually saw a show or did some other activity afterward, it wasn't like we were eating and going to bed right after. Service was great every night, and I think the staff wasn't feeling nearly as rushed or pressured as they might have with an earlier seating.

We normally eat at 6:30 when at home, so I attribute the lack of major hunger at 8:30 to the ready supply of snacking items you can get for free on board. Well, that and probably the sail-away margaritas I had most days!

Thank you ? 

We we're all over the place for dinner. One night we at close to 9pm while another near 4 pm. It was just hard for us to commit since we were busy all the time.

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On 5/24/2018 at 12:34 PM, twangster said:

Indeed.  I'm pretty heavily vested into my Nikon full frame.  The camera body is easy, it's the lenses!

I have the Rokinon 12mm and 14mm which for the price are great lens and f2.8 to boot.

Sony is really doing a great job taking on Canon/Nikon and leading mirrorless advances.  If it weren't for the lenses, I'd be pretty tempted to jump ship (pun unintended).

I love my Rokinon fisheye, still one of the sharpest glass I have used. I'm very happy making the switch to the sony Fe mount, did take some work having to sell all my older Amount lenses but was worth it in the end

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On 5/24/2018 at 12:55 PM, Matt said:

$2k for camera + $800-1k for the lens.  

Your pictures are great! I can't personally justify spending that much for a camera set up, but you cannot argue with the results. Maybe someday I'll upgrade to that level of stuff...in the name of research!

It almost didn't happen for me, trying to budget for this cruise along with the new camera and lens stretched me pretty thin for a while but I'm so glad I did. The quality I can def see an upgrade in the a73 vs the A99 I was using previously, plus I am not getting better low light shots which helped for the shows 

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On 5/24/2018 at 10:07 PM, Floski said:

I'm just amazed at your photography, man.

 

The shot above of the Abyss - is that the moon just above it?   

Much appreciated, thank you. That was part of the slide, that little dangling thing is part of that fish that attracts other fish in the darkness, if you have seen Finding Nemo that fish makes an appearance and tries to get Marlin and Dori

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On 5/25/2018 at 12:00 PM, Jason.H. said:

Thank you for your flicker link. Amazing photos! Everyone on here should check them out. The theme park pictures should be purchases by the parks to use on there websites and brochures. 

Much appreciated, thank you ?

I've had some of the parks use some of them on thier social media but that has been about it. 

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13 minutes ago, Hockeyman55 said:

Question for everyone. How long after your cruise until you don't have your sea legs anymore? I still feel like in on the boat ?

Lol...usually a few.  I find it depends on the ship actually.  For the Oasis class ships, where there is not much motion, I barely feel any different after.  When we sailed Anthem and there was a ton of motion, it lasted maybe 3 days after.  For the smaller ships, maybe 1-2 days.

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13 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I pretty much have that problem everywhere I go ?

I think that's why Hubby doesn't mind if we stay on the ship sometimes lol.

We will be going to Cozumel three times this Summer. My husband says if I spend wisely this Summer, I can book a cruise on our last cruise in August. 

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3 hours ago, Hockeyman55 said:

Question for everyone. How long after your cruise until you don't have your sea legs anymore? I still feel like in on the boat ?

Fingers crossed that it's only sea legs. After our AIDAprima cruise (7 nights) I was landsick for 2 weeks. Yeah, unfortunately landsickness is a thing. No matter what I did, the dizziness and  nausea wouldn't stop - I thought I was going crazy. Did ruin our post-cruise stay in Barcelona ?

On another topic: I really enjoyed your blog. Your photos could rival that Twangster bot :4_joy:

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3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@twangsterbot always says that "competition is a good thing".  Let's see him up his game for Alaska!  I'm sure it will be amazing as always. ?

Hopefully I can share some from my son who is going with me.  He has my hand-me-down Nikon D7100 but does a great job with it.    

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1 hour ago, ellcee said:

I'm on Harmony in a few weeks...would you know if there are any less crowded decks for laying on a chair? Even if there is no pool?

Deck 16, one level up from the pool can be less busy but you will still have people walking by.  On a sea day this will get busy too but seems more open than the pool deck on deck 15.

If you are in a GS or above, the suite sun deck is often not very busy. 

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1 hour ago, ellcee said:

I'm on Harmony in a few weeks...would you know if there are any less crowded decks for laying on a chair? Even if there is no pool?

It seemed like deck 16 always was less crowded

 

10 hours ago, twangster said:

@Hockeyman55's photos are better and it's not the camera body.  He is a great photographer.

Why thank you. ?

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58 minutes ago, Matt said:

Lovely photos!

I need to consider doing more post-processing on my photos, but when I'm on a cruise....

giphy.gif

I purposely try not to do much editing during the cruise for the same reason, but that's not the only reason. The other reason is because going through and editing all of my pictures and videos after the cruise helps me to relive the experience. It's the only thing that helps treat my PCD (Post Cruise Depression). Once I finish putting together that last photo or video my PCD turns in to a full blown case of CB (Cruise Blues) and ain't nobody got time for that!

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On 6/4/2018 at 1:52 AM, twangster said:

Great photos.

How much post do you do on your photos?  Is the noise level of the night shots straight out of the camera or have you tweaked noise levels?

Thank you ?

I don't typically don't do to much besides toggle some adjustments in Lightroom, white balance, lower highlights, raise shadows, adjust clarity, increase sharpness and usually add a little noise reduction. If im working on an HDR photo I will merge in LR and then some minor adjustments. I used to go through a phase where i would do some work in LR and then throw it into Nik Color Efex for some pro contrast and detail enhancements but found that added more noise than what I wanted. 

 

The night photos I shot using a tripod to be able to get the longer exposure that I wanted and then ran through LR with nothing much crazy done to them. Im not one for using a hundred different layer masks, I don't have the time or patience for that ?

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