We are on a trans Atlantic crossing from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale on the inaugural cruise of Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas. We chose a balcony room overlooking the Boardwalk - #11723. The room is quite spacious - the king size bed is close to the balcony with two very small nightstands with no drawers. The bedding is very comfortable. There is plenty of storage space - room for empty luggage under the bed. The hanging closet also has shelves and a quite small safe. The other closet is larger but only has a top shelf. A dresser has four deep drawers and a refrigerator. The desk serves as a dressing table with a large lit mirror (not bright enough to apply make-up) - a shelf - comfortable seat with hair dryer that is powerful but you need to keep pressure on the button for it to work - tiring for me. The bathroom is nice size for a ship - a narrow formica counter with a small sink - glass shelving in the corner - full wall mirror with good lighting and an open shelf beneath the sink for storage. The glassed in shower is quite nice - good pressure and water temperature - an adjustable shower head - 2 small hooks for washcloth, shampoo in a pump container and best of all - a small bar to prop you leg for shaving. Towels are replenished twice daily and are of good quality. The pull out sofa is located at the entrance to the room. The large TV does swivel to accommodate this location - but I prefer a room with the sofa near the balcony. Some do have that configuration but the brochure does not differentiate between them. Since our balcony overlooked the boardwalk, we had hoped to watch shows from the Aqua theater from our room but two ten story slides called "The Abyss" blocked our view. We could see the Rock Climbing Wall and Carousel. The room darkening curtains have to be drawn even during the day for any privacy - no shear curtains. Noise went on late into the evening from shows, movies or games going on in the area. Central Park rooms have quieter music but still no privacy. Some of the boardwalk rooms on the older ships have a waterview.....because they do not have the slide. Room amenities include two fluffy robes, small size bathroom amenities replaced when requested. Ice buckets also have to be personally requested. To avoid long walks request rooms closer to the elevators. The entire crossing was devoid of any international TV channels - CNN, BBC etc..Only shipboard channels - movies and cartoons were available. Not sure if this was due to being an inaugural cruise or not... Read Less

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After some twenty cruises aboard Azamara and Celebrity ships, we had an urge to try the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas. We are avid readers of Cruise Critic, and we really had no prior expectations regarding this ship. There are three companies under one umbrella – Azamara at the top of the list (in both price and quality), followed by Celebrity and then Royal Caribbean (RCCL), which is the company most suitable for families. We were pleasantly surprised. The ship was new and had naturally benefited from the technological developments that have taken place in the ship-building industry during the past couple decades. Harmony of the Seas is an architectural success: easy to find one’s way around, and the dining rooms were partitioned off into separate rooms so that one never had the feeling of being smothered in a crowd. The colors chosen are discrete and remind one of Azamara’s ships after their recent refurbishment. The shower was spacious and enclosed with an arched door – the most effective design I have experienced on any ship; designers have obviously taken into account that Americans (who are the primary target clients) have also become increasingly ‘spacious’. The arrangement leaves room for only a very tiny sink, and washing one’s hands, not to mention the usual morning face wash, results in a lot of water spilt on the floor. Fortunately the floor mat and towels are changed twice a day, so never mind. Restaurants Good, varied food in both the free restaurants and the special restaurants, which, by the way, are quickly fully booked. Our cruise was for only two weeks – if we had chosen a back-to-back arrangement and stayed on board four to five weeks, we would absolutely have longed for a break and a change of dining fare. Quick and efficient service in the self-service restaurant on the fifteenth level. The main dining room that rises three levels tall had random, slow and frequently unenthusiastic service; there was an apparent lack of effective management, because the staff did their best but was unfortunately somewhat inexperienced. The same might be said of the cabin attendants. A couple times we had to remind them that; “Yes, we would like to have our towels changed today, too”. Internet Although the company strongly profiles its VOOM package as the fastest Wi-Fi at sea, it was nevertheless as deplorable as that found on any other cruise ship. During peak Facebook-checking hours, one can simply give up. Five minutes to connect to a website is not what I would call voom! Otherwise, it was the usual routine: continual error messages, flashes of lost connectivity or no contact at all. Harmony brags about its lightning Internet access, but when you distribute it among five thousand passengers, it amounts to woefully little per person. As Elite class members on board both Azamara and Celebrity, we get free Internet time, but on RCCL we got only one day each. We thought maybe access would be better early in the morning or late in the evening, but no – people seem to lie in bed and surf the Internet. The best time to connect w s actually during mealtimes. This brings us to Royal Carribean’s own app, which is supposed to display the program for the day, the meal menus and shows, plus give you an opportunity to book what your heart desires. Royal iQ has gotten more than its share of awful ratings in Google Play and iTunes, and rightly so. It is slow, poor and lacks a lot of information; it is difficult to book events, lacking confirmation of bookings and double-bookings happened. The app is free and can be downloaded only to phones; it does not work on tablets. Booking of activities The information on TV was somewhat better and not as slow as what we have frequently experienced on Azamara and Celebrity. Unfortunately, one could not book via TV here because RCCL assumed that passengers use the telephone app or one of the deployed app boxes on board. The TV system was spoilt by junk mail; it is irritating that a system that is not particularly fast to start with has to be burdened with a large number of unnecessary messages that continually have to be deleted. Naturally, the TV system crashed from time to time, so it became extra difficult to check restaurant bookings; but strangely enough, it seemed that the advertisements always came through unscathed. All in all, the two or three important messages we got during the trip drowned in the spam soup. The idea is that all bookings of restaurants, shows and other activities are to be done on the app-tablets that are deployed throughout the ship. This would naturally have been done if only they were in working order, but they are unfortunately just as poor as the telephone app. The resulting scenario was that people were eager to try out the new tool for the first couple days, but as they gradually became frustrated with how poorly they worked, interest waned – and after a few days, the tablets simply stood there, abandoned and unloved. So, to book activities or a restaurant table, the easiest solution was to visit the attraction during opening hours and order from a living, breathing person; this worked fairly well, but there were times when one had to wait in a queue. We tried calling to place reservations; the main restaurant answered the telephone, the others did not. By good fortune, the invoicing system worked perfectly; there was never an error in charging our sea pass for drinks, etc. At the same time, one might question why they make the Diamond benefits system so complicated; the rules must have been written by lawyers who got paid by the hour. In some venues, we had to sign for free cappuccinos; in other places, we did not; we do not know why. Some of the staff did not know what was included, and this naturally led to unnecessary questions and (more or less helpful) answers. Facilities As might be expected, there were a lot of enjoyable activities, stage shows, zip-line (do it two or three times in a row), a nice pipe (slide) spanning 10 decks (well worth doing several times – not only a child thing), water slides, pools and jacuzzies; no crowding, no cramped spaces. Good programs, professionally carried out, and a good distribution of restaurants and activities across the different deck levels. Flushing of the toilet led a life of its own; it had a vacuum system with the usual warnings not to throw anything at all into the toilet that had not first been eaten. Frequently the flushing began when one pressed the button, but just as often, the mechanism seemed to wait – it paused a few seconds after the button was pressed, even up to a minute or two before the flushing was triggered. This prolonged one’s stay in the toilet while waiting to see that one’s dirty deed would be flushed away – it is not something one wants to expose other users to. Fortunately the vacuum flushing worked throughout the entire trip, so people undoubtedly deposited only authorized material in the toilets. But the strange pauses that the system took remained a mystery – could it be that the flushing system was manufactured by the same company that designed the Internet system on board? One of the pleasures of crossing the Atlantic is that you have to turn your clock back an hour; six times. People at sea are of course accustomed to this phenomenon and have an almost religious reverence for the correct time. On all other ships, we have always been informed when we needed to adjust the time on our watches; Harmony failed to do this. We were not informed, and our watches, the TV clock and the clocks around the ship showed three different times – there is no excuse for this. On Cruise Critic, there were many complaints about the personnel not being pleasant, kind or helpful. We are happy to say that this was not our experience. Everyone we encountered on board did everything they could to make our trip as pleasant as possible. In particular, the service provided by the staff of the self-service restaurant, the Windjammer, was superior. So I really do not know the reason for the criticism of the personnel; it is possible, of course, that the management of Harmony read earlier criticism and took measures to improve the staff’s attitude. It may also be that we were met by a new and refreshed staff; we noticed that after two weeks at sea there were certain crew members who perhaps began to get bored and were not as service-minded as one might wish. In general, this was a very successful cruise. However, those of us who prefer tours where there are less families with children will probably return to Celebrity’s newer ships. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the ship the Harmony of the seas. It was our 4th transatlantic crossing and the best yet. This ship is amazing and so much to do its just has a fun feeling to it. Our cabin was beautifully appointed. We enjoyed each and every meal. We ate at Jamies one evening wow the meal was fantastic. We also ate at Chops and had some good food there as well.The staff was incredible not sure how they do that all the time! We loved hearing the captain he has a very good sense of humor and is an intelligent man. We went to many of the shows and found them great as well.We had two port stops and went on ships tours the tour operator on one of those was excellent the other not so good. Embarkation was a little slow at first but not bad when you consider they were loading up about 5,000 people. I think that will improve once the ship settles into it's Caribbean routine. If you get a chance definitely cruise this ship :) with family and friends. The ship was built to entertain in warm weather lots of outside fun !! Read Less

More and more we enjoy the transatlantic cruises - sea days are a blessing for us so having so many in a row is a wonderful chance to kick back and truly get in relaxation mode. The one way airfare booked through RCCL is so reasonable that it makes the decision to do both fall and spring TA's a no brainer for us. Plus, we live in Florida so either the beginning or end of our journey makes it very easy port-wise. All that time on Harmony gave us the chance to enjoy so many of her features. We love the Oasis-class ships and find they are not too big even though the numbers seemed contrary. There are many venues for eating and entertainment which help to make the ship "smaller" if that is possible. The only down-side - we do find the necessity of making reservations in advance takes away somewhat of the total relaxation mindset. But you have to if you want to see and fit in everything! Other negative - My time dining is not what we expected - still seemed like we had to fit in required time slots. Disembarkation was a dream (we walked off with our own luggage). Read Less

I will start by stating, Harmony is as promised, a magnificent vessel and with nine straight days at sea, we had plenty of time to explore. After visiting all the neighborhoods, stopping a most of the bars and dining at few of the specialty restaurants, she didn’t let us down. This was our first transatlantic cruise and definitely not our last. My wife and I have been on over 30 cruises, RCL, NCL, Costa, etc, and we’ve come to the conclusion that the cruise lines have adopted the philosophy that “you can’t please all the people all the time, so please as many as you can”. The plan was to fly to Barcelona a day early, explore Barcelona and then hop on the ship. We took Aer Lingus from the U.S. to Dublin and then a connecting flight to Barcelona. With Aer Lingus, you get what you pay for, safe delivery to another airport with no frills and that’s pretty much what we got. Our first mistake was not spending more than one day in Barcelona, there’s plenty of places to explore and visit, and one day did not do us justice. We did manage to walk from our Hotel (Hotel Serhs Del Porto) to most of the touristy sites, but, I’m sure we missed some. A journey down La Rambla on a Saturday afternoon is somewhat of a challenge, but, rewarding. Here’s a little hint, follow the locals to a giant food market where you can buy Serano Ham, other cut meats (charcuterie) and/or cheese in a paper cone. For a euro or two it’s great street food and quite tasty. Grab a cone of meat and glass of rojo wine and enjoy, you’re on vacation. At the recommendation of our concierge at Serhs, we went to an area called Barceloneta in search of seafood paella, and of course they were spot on. An after dinner stroll took us to a very modern mall on the waterfront with a theater and even a McDonalds. At no point did we ever feel threatened or in any type of danger, everyone we met was friendly, helpful and spoke some English. The Hotel Serhs Del Porto was walking distance to the Cruise Port and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Our room was somewhat small, but, clean and quiet. For a few days stay prior to a cruise this place was as close to perfect as you can get. We took the bus from the airport to Plaza Espana and walked from there, maybe a twenty minute walk. There are a few grocery stores close by to pick up bottle or two of wine for your trip (RCCL allows two per room). The Serhs offers a breakfast buffet for about 15 euro, but, there are plenty of Café’s and bars up and down the street that serve a pretty good cappuccino and fresh pastries, for just a few euro. Getting to the Cruise Terminal from Serhs is about a 10 minute walk (I did it pulling two suitcases and wearing backpack without a problem), then a five minute bus ride to your ship. The bus costs 3 euro a person, but, I’m not too sure if you can actually just walk up. This being a transatlantic cruise there were only two stops and then on to Fort Lauderdale. The first stop was Palma De Mallorca and the next was Malaga. Both stops required a bus transfer to the populous centers for a few euros. In Palma we were told you could walk, but, it was only a 45 minute walk, but, it seemed way further than that and in Malaga, it might have been walkable, but, the cost was only 2 euro. Once again, pay a few euro and ride the bus, you’ll be doing plenty of walking around the towns. Both locations were nice, but, if you’ve seen one old European town you’ve seen them all. Narrow streets, small sidewalks, and hard to find street signs, all add to the charm. We picked up maps at the tourist info booths, walked around, got lost, found our way back, ate strange foods, drank wine and enjoyed ourselves, it’s all part of the fun. Find a café, have an espresso and watch the world go by. We actually found a Starbucks, had coffee, logged into the free wifi and checked emails. Passing thru the Straits of Gibraltar was fascinating, imagining all the history that passed thru that location, with Europe on one side, Africa on the other. We passed thru at about 9:30PM and you could see the lights on both sides, extremely cool. Now onto Harmony, I won’t bore anyone with information they can get from the RCCL website, the neighborhoods are as promised, the artwork is fantastic, there’s no shortage of bars or restaurants, so you never go hungry or thirsty. Everything was shiny and new, the crew was as helpful as they could be and as with all ships this size, you rarely felt any rolling from the ocean. Debarkation was a breeze; we did the self-checkout, where we took our bags off the ship, as we had an early flight home. Total time from our room to the airport 1 hour, 15 minutes. We really enjoyed Grease, Columbus and the water shows, they really display the talent of the performers onboard. David Kilpatrick’s presentations were extremely informative; just wish they would have shown some of the movies he discussed. Some of the other instructional activities were a bit of a reach, but, with nine days at sea, there was a lot of time to fill. (Balloon twisting, knitting, water colors, full contact checkers, etc.). We ate in the main dining room most nights, we had the traditional late seating and most nights by the time we got out of the MDR we were way too tired to do anything. Maybe taking advantage of the ‘my time’ dining would have suited us better (that’s a hint). The food was cruise quality, but, when you cook for 5000 passengers you can only do so much. We had burgers at Johnny Rockets and they were just burgers and dinner at Sabor’s, great guacamole, but, really Americanized Mexican food. The pools were rarely crowded, even when we got closer to Florida and the weather warmed up. Out of the nine days we were at sea, it rained a couple of times, showers, not downpours, most days had some clouds, but, we had lots of sunshine also. Temps ran from about 65 to 80, during the days and slightly cooler at night. Our cabin was on deck 12 with an interior balcony looking over Central Park, when we booked the agent reassured us that we would love the view and that the exterior balconies all you could see was water. The only problem was with an interior balcony all you see is the people on the balconies across from you. Maybe a little more research on our part was needed. The room was comfortable and clean, our room steward, Barry, greeted us every morning with a heartfelt ‘good morning’ and always provided us with any extra’s we might have requested. That being said, there were a few peccadillos. With more than 2300 Diamond and above C&A members, the Diamond Lounge was swamped; RCCL made exceptions to the rules and you could pretty much get any cocktails you wanted at any of the bars, during the normal DL hours. We hung out at the bar by Sabor Restaurant, and the Bartenders there (Luis and Narcis) never let us down. Any passenger related activities were crowded, specialty restaurants booked solid, lines to get into the Main Dining room for lunch (not too bad, but, still line up and wait). You had to get to ‘progressive trivia’ an hour early, just to get seating for your team. Most other passenger activities were similarly crammed, almost to the point that avoidance was the best option. The ship wifi was sufficient, but, at times it dragged on. One thing to remember is that when you are sea for nine days, there is no real signal for TV, we were without any updated news (with the election that was a good thing), or updated sports. We are from Chicago and it would have been nice to see the Cubs play in the World Series, heck it’s a once in every 108 year occurrence. It still seems that they are working out some of the bugs on this mega ship, one was the environmentals in the cabins might require some adjusting. Our room was cool in the evenings when we got back to our room, but, midway thru the night, the rooms got hot, only to cool down in the morning. Several others mentioned this issue also, but, they also had outside cabins, so they could open their balcony doors and let some cooler air in. On our last day at Sea we had the pleasure of meeting up with Harmony’s other sisters right outside of Fort Lauderdale for a photo opt. Allure, Oasis and Harmony, pretty girls all in a row. Read Less

Our embarkation went very smoothly as did disembarkation. Disembarkation was slower than embarkation but considering the number of passengers this was expected. The Diamond lounge was pathetic, even with 3 venues open they could not accommodate the number of members on board (approximately 2600) the Diamond Concierge had a few members that he clicked with and would spend the time socializing with however if you were not in that click he had not time for you.. We liked to meet our friends in the lounge but it was only the company that made it worthwhile. We like to meet new people but if were in there alone the concierge would come and ask for the chairs from your table to seat members of his click, leaving you sitting all by yourselves with no chairs for others to join you The food in the lounge left something to be desired usually franks and all they lacked was the beans Breakfast in the dining room or the other venues was a disaster the only place to get service was the windjammer Read Less

This was our first ever transatlantic cruise AND our first time on an Oasis class ship. We loved them both. The TA was so relaxing an itinerary while Harmony of the Seas provided all the recreation, entertainment and dining options we could hope for. We had a mid-ship ocean balcony on level 12. It was a great cabin and our steward was very good. Our only issue was a slow draining shower but we were having such a great time we didn't even think to report it for service until the 11th day on the ship. We found the entertainment and recreation options to be outstanding and we enjoyed them all. I especially loved the enrichment talks by former Paramount Studios President RIchard Kirkpatrick while my wife most enjoyed practicing and singing in the Harmony of the Seas choir. The dining in the main dining room was nice but the food was not great. It seems like RCCL has cut on the food quality in the MDR since our last RCCL cruise a couple of years ago. Perhaps they are moving everyone more toward the specialty dining venues. We had purchased a four-night specialty dining package and found it well worth the extra $. My wife and I agreed that all four were outstanding but here is the order of our favorites: #1 - Jamies Italian - great food, service & atmosphere #2 - Wonderland - fun experience #3 - Central Park - great food & service #4 - Chops Grill - though 4th, we both loved it and would definitely go back sometime. Overall, we loved sailing on the beautiful Harmony and would do it again...especially on a TA itinerary again. Read Less

Overall we really liked the ship. Some nice improvements were the showers, as a plus sized woman, it was nice to have a shower that was easier to maneuver inside, the addition of the shaver bar was nice as well . We felt the room had more usable space without the coffee table. On previous ships we bumped into the coffee table often and only used it for room service deliveries, on harmony we used the ample sized desk for room service trays and appreciated the extra space provided without the coffee table. My husband and I rode the three slides, we liked them all but on the "champagne flute " slide, which we called the toilet bowl, I didn't "flush" successfully, and needed to scoot over to the flush exit! I also managed to get two nice bruises on my legs from hitting something (remember plus sized woman!). But I was not really hurt, just bruised. My husband had more issue with the abyss , as the glass floor on the entry platform freaked him out. He also had difficulty entering the abyss slide and did not center himself correctly on the mat, the staff member told him to standup and re center himself, which he could not accomplish due to the slippery surface and ended up sliding all the way down with one arm over his head and only one hand holding the mat. We both liked the boot and bonnet bar, entertainer Toby-Joe Reilly was wonderful as was Johanna, bartender, it was a nice place to spend time with friends. As a new ship, with a long time without stock replenishments for the transatlantic sailing, they ran out of a few supplies. No diet soda in the coke machines, the bars ran out of my husbands favorite rum ( oakheart) and no diet sofas in cans except Sprite Zero, since we had purchased the ultimate drink package it was dissapointing to not be able to get our favorite drinks. The whole media blitz surrounding the three sisters get together for harmony arriving in America was very fun. The WiFi was much improved with speed and access and the package prices were pretty good too. Overall, nice ship and nice cruise! Read Less

We have never posted a review on cruise critic before. We are not sure if we are just not so much in awe of this class ship as we previously were on the Oasis and the Allure but we felt this ship did not compare. We were happy with our Ocean balcony cabin but our cabin steward was mediocre. The dining room food was decent but again, mediocre. The Windjammer had better food than the dining room. We feel that there seems to be a decrease in the quality of the dining room food probably due to the speciality restaurants. Also, the dining room food service was slow and the food always just room temperature. The worst part was disembarking which was a nightmare. My husband was in a wheelchair and they lost a piece of our luggage and we found it ourselves & the tags were intact and it was with a group of odds and ends of luggage. It took us one hour to locate it. Then no one knew where we could get the rental car shuttle and the porter took us to the taxi stand. We are sailing for the third time on the Oasis and had we not already booked this, we may have cancelled. There is certainly a lot to do on the ship and probably great for most cruisers but being diamond plus left us with a lot to be desired. Read Less

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Great Entertainment. See all the shows but book online before your cruise and still arrive 30-45 minutes early for best seats. Great Speciality Restaurants. Buy the package before you cruise online. Main Dining Room. Crowded, slow service, food fair to poor. Plan at least 2 hours for dinner. No Ice Cream at the Buffet . Only one soft serve machine for 7,000 guests. Ran out of Chocolate custard 1/2 way through the cruise. No omelet stations in the Buffet. If you like excellent food, splurge in the speciality restaurants and skip the dining room. And don't pay for the food at Johnny Rockets. Mediocre food that you have to pay for. We did the Chefs table. Booked it online before the cruise. Got word from RCI that it was cancelled and $$ would be refunded. It was rescheduled at the last minute 1/2 way through the cruise. It was set up in the Solarium Bistro in a semi private space. Not the quality of other Chef's tables and certainally not the atmosphere of others. Activities: Do the Zip Line, the Abyss, and the water slides. Don't miss the Escape Room. The Solarium: A big disappointment. No Shade, No Pool, cold when weather was bad. The roof was not able to close completely. Royal IQ: Never worked. Not able to book any restaurants from any device including the room. Not able to book multiple speciality restaurants from one dining room. Even with my reservations, the Royal IQ totally got them wrong. Balcony Cabin ocean view was fine. No outside noises. Lots of space, very comfortable bed. Loyalty program, a joke. Limited drink menu and times for Diamond Guests. Crowded Diamond Club and overflow rooms for Diamond Happy Hour. Go to any bar and they will take care of you. Embarking: No wait in Barcelona. Was on the ship within 15 minutes of arriving. Debarking: Terrible. Had an early flight (9:40am out of Ft. Lauderdale). Was told by many crew members including Guest Services that the baggage would be off the ship by 7am. Waited an hour for the baggage to arrive after we got off. Finally got our bags at 8:00. Almost missed the flight. Next time we will carry our own bags off. If you have an early fight don't even think of having you bags taken off by the crew the night before. Service: Mixed. All personal tried to accommodate but many seemed hassled, overworked and tired. If you haven't experienced Oasis Class Royal Caribbean ships before try them Especially if you like great entertainment and great activities. But do your homework. Wait a least a year before going a new ship and maybe just do the speciality restaurants . Book as many activities and shows online before you leave. Read Less

Recently we have booked most of our cruises based on the ship. We love both the Quantum Class and the Oasis Class ships. A cruise on another type of ship to us is now boring. The Harmony of the Seas is terrific. She is beautiful. The balcony cabins are very nice. There is so much to do. The Zip line, though short, is great. There is a very nice mini golf course, along with ping pong, basketball, ice skating, water slides, and of course, the Ultimate Abyss, which is a dry slide going from deck 16 to deck 6 in seconds. The entertainment was mostly excellent. They stage play Grease was terrific, as was Columbus, and most of the boarded entertainment. Both Aqua shows were wonderful, as were both Ice shows.. For the most part, they food was excellent. The only time that the ship felt crowded, was when events were held on the Promenade deck. There are many restaurants to chose for any meal. Many are free, but there are also the upscale pay restaurants. We tried Chops, which was excellent. As with the other Oasis class ships, there is the Boardwalk and Central Park. The Solarium area is beautiful and includes spas with Infinity edges. There is no doubt that we would take this ship again in a heartbeat. The problem is that all three of this class of ship only does the Caribbean, which is, by far, not our favorite destination. Since we were on the transatlantic sailing which brought the Harmony to it's home port, we stopped off the coast of Florida to meet up with the Oasis and the Allure for a photo op. This was great seeing all three huge ships together. We highly recommend this ship to anyone. We have taken the Allure and the Oasis, and the Harmony far surpasses both of them with up to date electronics, very good Wifi, and the Abyss. Read Less

Beautiful ship. Service was excellent and so were the shows. The ice shows, Grease, Columbus and the Fine Line shows were really good. For those who book balcony staterooms facing Central Park....be aware that there are no sheers on glass doors/windows to the balcony. Only drapes which means no privacy whatsoever so one has to draw the drapes and turn on the lights for some privacy. Not sure why RCCL didn't realize this but lets hope they address the issue as it really is a privacy problem. This is our only criticism of the entire ship... great voyage and truly enjoyable. The stateroom ( Central Park balcony ) was quite spacious with lots of storage . Great choices of food in the Windjammer, lots to do and see. Many food venues... There were only 2 ports of call and we had been there previously ....did not book any shore excursions. Read Less

I wanted to experience the largest cruise ship and do my first transatlantic voyage. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has set the standard for awesomeness. The Harmony of the Seas is a floating resort and country club. It took all 20 days of my trip to experience the many dining venues onboard. They were all exceptional. It would have been very easy to gain weight on this trip but there were so many activities like a full state of the art gym, walking/ running track, basketball court and several other activities to keep you energized and entertained. Just walking around the ship each day gave me a couple of miles of excercise. The Broadway musical, iceskating and aquatic shows, juggling comedian and numerous parties on the Promenade were just a few of the top rate entertainment options available. I throughly enjoyed each one. But the best and most outstanding aspect of the cruise is the crew and staff. All of them from Captain Gus on down gave no less than 150%. They are what made the cruise extraordinary. My next cruise can't come soon enough. Thank you RCCL for a great adventure. Read Less

Embarkation and disembarkation went very smooth and fast. The ship itself is awesome and big. There are enough things to do on board. The stateroom was big, comfortable and had enough space to put your clothes and other stuff away Dining was excelent and the food delicious. Entertainment and activities are good. Service was very poor (I had booked a stateroom decoration as a surprise for my partner but it wasn't in place when we arive on board after complaining it was suddenly on the third day in place, we had also booked a dining package but on board there wasn't any possibility to book any speciality restaurant) Ports (Palma the Mallorca and Malaga) where great. The meet and greet with the other Oasis klasse ships (Allure and Oasis) was a very nice bonus on our trip. We would probibly think again before we sail with Royal Caribbean again although the ship was great. Read Less

A beautiful ship, no doubt about that. No doubt that it is large. I am one of those cruisers who loves to see the body of water on which I'm sailing on. I felt that was missing on this newest RCI ship, if I wanted to be in a atmosphere of forced sunlight I would go to Las Vegas. What happened to the windows on the Schooner Bar? There were lots of activities to keep one busy so no fear there. I can not decide who this ship is best suited for- but I've come to believe that families would appreciate Harmony the most. Sadly on the Trans Atlantic we were on, the ship was short of several items. I kept trying to get a mojito but was told there was no mint yet the mint seemed to make its way to the dessert trays - to give them credit the desserts were delicious. Read Less

This was our 3rd T/A and 17th cruise with RCCL; we have had some excellent experiences, but this is the best so far. Beautiful ship and a wonderful crew. As with most things it is all about leadership; Captain Gus is far more than a nice guy and entertaining speaker, he is a gifted leader. His leadership was felt throughout the ship by both crew and passengers. Service was not perfect, but any shortcomings were met quickly and with a smile. With 2.498 Diamond and above cruisers, the staff could not have done a better job of providing the extra benefits that we loyal (and generally spoiled) cruisers expect. One of the most pleasant surprises was that Dining Room food was so good we regretted having prepaid for 7 dinners at specialty restaurants. If you enjoy wine, the Vintages staff is delightful and knowledgeable. Entertainment was top notch; "Grease" was delightful and well acted, danced and sung. Onboard enrichment was set up to appeal to a wide array of interests. We very much enjoyed the Spanish lessons provided by Vince Amato; he is so entertaining and is a gifted teacher. An added "cool" item was the at sea meeting of the Three Sisters; Oasis, Allure and Harmony. Some of us also noted we were being guarded during that meeting by the USS Zumwalt, the US Navy's newest ship, a "stealth" destroyer. Oh, and old guys can go down the Ultimate Abyss and survive! Read Less

I tend to like longer voyages, especially transatlantics, maidens, and repositioning sailings. I also look for good value when I cruise. I picked an inside cabin with virtual balcony, which I greatly enjoyed onboard Quantum of the Seas. Unfortunately, at least most of the inside virtual balconies on Harmony of the Seas don't have the sound... so you don't hear the wind, and the sea. A bigger problem is the exposure latitude on the camera feeding the virtual balcony screen is limited, so (in particular) it looks much darker outside in the early mornings than it appears on (say) the camera feeding the in-cabin TV screen. It's also disappointing that (unlike Quantum) many of the inside cabins on Harmony don't have virtual balconies. This is perhaps one of the biggest dumb design decisions that RCL made for Harmony. I enjoyed the main dining rooms. I recommend My Time dining, and ignore the pressure to reserve specific dining times way ahead. Just show up, and offer to share a table. You'll meet more interesting people that way (most of the time) and have much greater flexibility. Don't fail to try some of the other free venues, including Solarium Grill. Don't miss the various shows. Harmony has amazing entertainment. Be sure to see Grease the Musical, Columbus the Musical, both of the ice shows in Studio B, both the shows at the Aqutheatre, and the headliner shows in the main theatre. The comedy club show in the Attic, shows in the jazz club, and other entertainment shouldn't be missed, either. Read Less

We have over 18 cruises under our belt. But this ship topped them all. We were privileged to cruise the historic trip from Spain to Ft. Lauderdale and witnessed first-hand the coming together of Allure and Oasis with the Harmony in Ft. Lauderdale. What an experience! And what a beautiful and well-appointed ship. Despite the 6,000 passengers, we did not feel crowded or boxed-in. The food was excellent in all the restaurants. The Windjammer offered especially tasty food. The entertainment was top notch. Just a bit of advise, book one needs to book reservations for all the shows if one wants a guaranteed seat. But we did not book one or two and were able to get a decent seat, There is so much to do and not to do, if one so chooses, on the ship. There are many excellent music venues open throughout the day and night and so much day recreational venues. And the staff is so helpful and accommodating. We are definitely returning to the Harmony. Read Less

We were nervous about this ship as we usually prefer Radiance class ships which are rather smaller but the ship was fantastic and the entire cruise was great. We never felt that the ship was too big, and the ambiance and the extra facilities were wonderful. The shows were outstanding and the use of new technologies helped immensely . Really enjoyed the abyss and water slides with no queues but I feel the lack of these was down to the nine days at sea any less would have meant that you would not have time to enjoy all the ships facilities, a seven day port intensive cruise would not be long enough for this ship in my opinion . Food and service was good as usual with RCI and the choice for coeliacs is ever expanding which is good to see. The only change I found this time was that my food is now served separately in the main dining room often causing a delay with my fellow diners which could cause problems. I am unsure if this is new RCI policy or just our waitress being extra cautious. We would certainly take this class of ship again if one comes to Europe, hopefully once they have built the new fourth vessel in this class. Read Less

Transatlantics are best value especially when booked early. Cabin had creaking metal overhead which made it difficult to sleep. Otherwise the cabin was fine. Room attendant was very pleasant and efficient. Johnny Rockets was best for breakfast because they serve omelettes and good OJ to your table; no extra fee at breakfast. Mini-bites also makes omelettes and is a nice out of the way option to the Windjammer. Windjammer is much larger than the Allure and has better logistics. Now you have to physically wash your hands at a sink when entering the Windjammer. We had the 4 specialty restaurant package. The highlight for us was Wonderland. The waiter explained all of the menu options and encouraged us to try some things we would not ordinarily order and he was right to do so because it was a delicious experience. David Kirkpatrick, a former Hollywood exec, had a highly entertaining series of lectures. The ship is huge and you get in your daily steps. The elevators only seemed crowded at mealtime when folks were heading to dinner or coming out from the shows. Front elevators tended to be less crowded. Captain Gus was a delight. VOOM Internet worked like a charm the entire cruise. Book internet in advance for discount. Overall they did a great job. Read Less

Over half the passengers were Diamond and above.. Although they opened most bars and restaurants for drinks and coffee.. the clubs were sometimes standing room only.. I believe they did the best they could. In the dining room it seemed you could not get food delivered to the table hot .. unfortunately service was not up to par. It was obvious that the dining room was not running well for some reason.. Therefore, the Windjammer buffet was crowded as people found that they had better food and service there.. not to mention you could actually look out and see the ocean .. Harmony is great for family cruising or taking the grandchildren along.. plenty to do.. We missed the intimate smaller ship atmosphere because it was harder to meet other cruisers. Just a note for anyone that cares.. there is no chapel, no library, and no lounge at the top of the ship where you can have a drink and look out to sea. Read Less