Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is quickly becoming a very popular cruise ship with new cruisers and veteran cruises alike.  There is so much to see and do onboard, and we decided to list the five things about Harmony of the Seas that we think are just so darn cool that they deserve some recognition.

5. Bionic Bar

Robots are at the forefront of so many exciting ideas, and on Harmony of the Seas, guests can enjoy a cocktail made by a robot at the Bionic Bar.

Two robots serve up drinks to guests who order them from nearby tablets.  Pick the drink you like from a list of favorites, or opt to customize something you fancy.  You can even see reviews left by other guests of which drinks they liked best.

After placing the order, the robots go to work and provide real-time updates of the drink progress on a large screen, before sending the drink to you.  Just try and walk by the Bionic Bar and not stop to see the robots doing their thing.

4. Escape the Rubicon

Often people associate certain activities with being on a cruise ship, but the Escape the Rubicon game breaks all those molds.

Escape the Rubicon is an immersive escape room game, where guests work together to solve a series of clues and riddles before time runs out so that they can "escape" the room they are in.

Royal Caribbean teamed up with a leader in the escape room experience to create a dedicated space on Harmony of the Seas where guests can try their best to find all the clues and figure out a way to beat the game before time runs out.

3. Splashaway Bay

Royal Caribbean is a family cruise line, and kids will likely want to spend a lot of time at Harmony of the Seas' incredible aqua park, known as Splashaway Bay.

So what makes Splashaway Bay so cool? This fun spot is full of water slides, water cannons, waterfalls and more.  It is the kind of place kids will never want to leave. The gigantic drench bucket and a multi-platform jungle-gym mean not only will the kids get (and stay) drenched while playing there, they are going to have a great time doing it.

What makes Splashaway Bay special is the fact it is the latest and greatest water play area option in Royal Caribbean's fleet. That makes it one of the best ships if you are cruising with kids.

2. Grease

Guests sailing on Harmony of the Seas are able to see the Broadway musical, Grease, and it is available to enjoy on your cruise with no additional cost.

This stage production of Grease was specially adapted by Royal Caribbean Productions and features all of your favorite songs, such as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Beauty School Dropout” and more.

The best news about Grease on Harmony of the Seas, is that the show is included in the cost of your cruise fare, so you can enjoy a Broadway show while onboard for absolutely no additional cost.

1. Ultimate Abyss slide

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is the world's largest cruise ship and offers the world's tallest slide at sea in the Ultimate Abyss.

Located on the aft of the ship, the Ultimate Abyss is more than 150 feet above sea level and offers side-by-side slides that send guests down 10 decks at a rate of 9 miles per hour.

Guests board the slide by climbing stairs that lead directly into the mouth of a giant angler fish, where they get into a customized mat and then descend down the slide, traversing 216 feet of a multi-sensory tunnel. Guests can reach a speed of 9 miles per hour, and it is the kind of thrill experience unlike anything else at sea.

The Ultimate Abyss is free and available for rides mostly during the day.

There is much more!

We limited ourselves to the top 5 coolest things about Harmony of the Seas for this blog post, but there is so much more that will impress you.

Surf simulators, zip line, incredible restaurants, mini-golf, ice skating, water slides and much more. We cannot fit it all into one blog post but rest assured that a cruise on Harmony of the Seas is certain to impress.

If you have started to plan your first Royal Caribbean cruise, you may have run into a few words or phrases that sounds like something out of a CSI episode, rather than a family vacation. This post will help explain what all these nautical terms mean, so you can learn to "talk the talk" once onboard.

Adventure Ocean: Royal Caribbean's children's programming that is open to children between the ages of 3-17.

Aft: The back of the ship, which refers to a direction.

Bow: The front part of the ship, which refers to the physical part of the ship.

Closed-loop sailing: A roundtrip cruise, where the sailing begins and ends at the same port.

Cruise Compass: The daily newspaper distributed to guests each day that lists all the activities, events and specials happening onboard the ship.

Cruise Director: This officer onboard the ship is in charge of the entertainment during your cruise, from bingo to the shows to trivia and more.

Dining package: An optional purchase, where guests can pre-pay the cost of specialty restaurants and receive a discount compared to dining at the same specialty restaurants individually.

Disembarkation: Usually refers to the last day of a cruise when you depart the ship at the conclusion of a cruise.

Double occupancy: Most cruise fares are based on double occupancy. That means two people sharing one cabin.

Dock: A pier at a port that your ship can pull up to, where guests can walk off the ship and directly onto land.

Embarkation: Usually refers to the first day of your cruise when you board the ship. 

Forward: The front of the ship,  which refers to a direction.

Friends of Bill W: A code name for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Friends of Dorothy: A code name for LGBT activities.

Galley: The ship's kitchen.

Gangway: Ramp guests use to embark or disembark their ship.

Guarantee room: To help fill in empty staterooms, Royal Caribbean will offer a guarantee room rate. This means you pick a category of stateroom that you are promised you will receive nothing less than that. In fact, you might even be upgraded to something higher. On top of it, you will pay less than someone who picks their stateroom. The "catch" to a guarantee room is that Royal Caribbean will assign your room number at some point between when you book the stateroom and your sail date. You are essentially trading the ability to pick your stateroom location for a lower cruise fare.

Itinerary: The day by day list of where your cruise ship is going, with notations for which ports of call you will visit and what times you will be there.

MDR: Abbreviation for Main Dining Room.

Muster Drill: A mandatory safety event, where all guests report to their evacuation station to learn what to do in case of an emergency. Every guest must attend this event.

Muster Station: The designated spot where guests must go in the event of an emergency for evacuation.

My Time Dinner: Royal Caribbean's concept for dinner, where guests have flexibility in making reservations ahead of time or simply showing up at any point while dinner is being served.  This is an alternative to Traditional Dinner.

OBC: Acronym for Onboard credit.  Onboard credit is the money in your onboard account that you can use to spend towards purchases made onboard.

Open-jaw sailing: A one-way cruise, where the sailing begins and ends in different ports.

Porthole: A round window, often smaller than the standard picture window found in most outside cabins.

Port/Portside: The left of the ship, which refers to a direction.

Repositioning cruise: A one-way itinerary that effectively moves a cruise ship from one part of the world to another. 

Royal iQ: The smartphone application to manage your cruise while onboard the ship.  Only available on select ships.

Royal Suite Class: Royal Caribbean's suite offerings available on Oasis and Quantum Class ships only. 

Sea Day: A day in which your cruise ship does not visit a port of call, and spends the entire day at sea.

SeaPass: The card every guest uses to make purchases onboard, identify themselves, and get access to their stateroom.

Single supplement: Since cruise fares are based on double occupancy, solo cruisers are charged a single supplement.  The single supplement fee is usually 150-200% of the cruise fare. Some Royal Caribbean ships have solo cabins, where the single supplement fee is waived.

Specialty restaurant: A dining venue where there is an additional charge to dine there. Usually a cover charge, although sometimes food is charge a la carte.

Starboard: The right of the ship, which refers to a direction.

Stateroom: A room for a guest on the cruise ship.  Every guest books a stateroom (sometimes referred to as a cabin).

Stern: The back part of the ship, which refers to a part of the ship.

Tender: A ferry, where your ship will anchor in the harbor near the port and a small vessel will shuttle you between the cruise ship and port.

Traditional Dinner: Dinner in the main dining room where you have a choice of either first or second seating (you choose this before your cruise), and are seated at the same table each evening with the same wait staff and table mates. 

Wake: The trail of waves behind a cruise ship that is created by the ship's engines as the ship moves forward.

WOWBand: RFID bracelet that works just like a SeaPass card.