After 2 years of researching and saving up I decided on Harmony of the Seas. It had so many different options to satisfy my 9 year old daughter to my 35 year old fiance who is a big kid at heart. When I booked the cruise through Royal Caribbean, they strongly recommended I book our flights through Air to Seas. With all the research, almost everyone was saying to fly out a day early to make sure you make it to the ship before it sails. When booking through Air to Seas, I was reassured many times, that booking it this way, it would take the stress away. It didn't. It may seem excessive, but I called approx five times. Asking if they were certain we would make it on time. The flight that they booked us, had us arriving for 1:20pm. The last shuttle service left at 1:30pm. See my concerns? I told Air to Seas, that coming from Canada seems like to much of a risk flying the day of. Considering our unpredictable winter weather. I kept getting reassured, being reminded that booking your flight with Air to Sea guarantees you will make it. The day of, we flew out at 5:15 am. 2 hours to Toronto. Than, an hour lay over, which would land us at 1:20pm. When we got to Toronto. 1 hour was Not enough time. I literally had to yell in line, if someone would take 100$ US money to let us cut in line so we could make it to our flight on time. Just to find out, we would be waiting on a plane that needed to be fuelled up and de-iced. Putting us 2 hours behind. When I first called the emergency Air to Sea emergency line, the women said there was nothing she could do. I called an hour later and spoke to someone different who got in touch with the cruise line. I was so grateful. We rushed off the plane at 3:20pm. My fiance literally ran to find our luggage while I ran to find the Royal Caribbean rep. He gave 8 of us a choice. Since we only had 10mins to get to the port. The luggage was not taken off the plane in this short amount of time. Option 1. Stay behind, in a hotel and fly out to Jamaica and get to the ship than. Or Option 2. Go to the port, start checking in and the luggage would arrive possibly by 430pm or the next stop. Since Jamaica was day 4 of a 7 day cruise, we chose to rush to the Ship. We were guaranteed the luggage would get to us by the Royal Caribbean Rep. I asked so many times, I even recorded it since I was so anxious about leaving all of our luggage behind. Our summer clothes, our medications. We were on a fancy ship very underdressed. I had to cut my Jeans to make shorts and luckily my 9 year old had 2 pairs of sandals in her luggage, 2 sizes 2 small which of course cut my feet and caused infection. Because we were so underdressed, we weren't able to attend the entertainment. We kept being told our luggage would arrive in Jamaica. Day 4. I was only told on that day, because there were 70 suitcases, it was decided they would not fly any of the luggage because of no room. I don't want to place blame on the ship Harmony of the Seas, as it wasn't their fault. They gave the 3 of us 150$ credit to buy essentials on the ship. There are only 2 stores. That credit paid for 2 pairs of shorts and 1 tank top. By day 4 I was able to buy a swimsuit in Jamaica. Unfortunately, there were so many things we weren't able to experience because of not having the right clothing. For example, the Abyss, you need a t-shirt and longer shorts to avoid burns. The last night I had to settle the bill. I counted my money and I was short 940$ the Security came into the cabin and turned everything upside down, inside out to see if we were hiding the money. It was their procedure. Our safe didn't work properly. We had to get it fixed 3 times. After the first room clean, I had 2 brown envelopes with Cash. Devided, the bigger Bill's for shore excursions and the smaller Bill's for tipping in the other one. Since our days that we docked were spent rushing to pharmacies, looking for bathing suits ect... we didn't do any excursions. And because I was sick from not having my medications, and also in a bad mood, I tried to spend the least amount of money on the ship. Anyways, the first room clean, all my cash 3400$ was placed into one envelope. I quickly counted it, and 40$ was missing. Because of the situation, I thought I must of left the envelopes out, 40$ might have fallen out and he took a tip. I was just so grateful not everything was gone. Luckily, I had receipts for everything for insurance claims. When leaving Canada it was documented how much money I took with me. After the security was done searching the room and their questions, one of the Security came and found me at the smoking section and told me my story didn't make sense. Why didn't I report 40$ missing. If someone wanted to steal, they would have taken everything. I told her I don't know. I'm not blaming him. As, there were 3 different people who came in to fix the safe, and twice the toilet had to be fixed. Royal Caribbean is blaming West Jet for our terrible experience. But, I received false information from the people who booked our flights through Air To Seas. And the Royal Caribbean Rep for guarantee of our luggage making it to us. I really do not know how they can blame West Jet. I was convinced by a professional to book that flight. My sister works for West Jet. I could have gotten the flight tickets for super cheap, flown the day before, stayed in a hotel and still have saved so much money. They even charged me 45$ each (3 people) for Taxi services, while Royal Caribbean offers free shuttle service, which we ended up using. I could go on and on.. but I think if anyone actually reads this, they can learn from what happened to us. One more thing. I booked an inside balcony room over central park. Which had 3 beds. We got a small room, no balcony. 1 bed and one sofa that folded down to a bed. They were booked solid and couldn't fix that. I wasn't given back the difference. Read Less

We choose this ship because we are Royal Caribbean GOLD in Crown & Anchor Society, and our previous cruise were fantastic in Freedom and Quantum Class Ships. All family wanted to try Oasis Class ship, OUR MISTAKE. All starts at embarkation with our luggage, rude staff asking for tips before anything else..... This ship is beautiful, but it is to big for the crew and management, here details: - Food, in Windjammer food were the worst we have had in a cruise, only last 2 o 3 days before cruise finish quality goes good but not to better. - They call guest to clean their hands before entry to Windjammer but nobody from crew takes care to check if guest really clean their hands, they only stand at the entry, ask for clean hands is a formality, but not a real thing. - Guests left the tables made a mess, very dirty, and the cleaning work for next guest was not to good. - 150 Central Park Restaurant don't lose your money there. - Main dining Room run for your life...., food ok not more, but service forget about it. - After two days we understand the food business, poor food and service included to push you to go to paid restaurants, we talk with other guest and they thought in the same way. - Service from the bar at pools was to slow, we order sometimes but stop we have to wait to much. - towels, 3 stations but usually works only one, you have to walk to the open one, and the guys were talking between them, you have to wait for them before receive the towel. - Hot dog station, from a selection of hot dogs usually they hace coney island only. - SPA, they change your time as their convenience, and it's a scam, they sell you 75 minutes of relaxing massage, but those 75 minutes are like this, the first 15 minutes of waiting and talking time with your massage therapist, then 45 minutes of massage and to finish 10 or 15 minutes trying to sell you a lot of beauty expensive products. Imagine the 50 minutes offer....... And other many, many things out of the cruise of our or your dreams. Recommendation with your photo package, If you travel with more than one cabin in your reservation, and in the other cabins there are people (your son and daughter) over 21 years old, put all your photos under one cabin number, if not, when you are going to select your photos you will have to paid a lot of more money, A LOT!!!. They don't let you to put all the cabins photos together (all cabins under your reservation) to take all your photos for the best package rice...... Out standing from our cruise, Jamie's Oliver restaurant and Wonderland, food and service. We try it them (both) in Quantum class ship and were great to. Izumi restaurant is this ship a small and dark hole, so dark and dirty, bad service, very slow to receive food after order, in other way Izumi in Quantum class are excellent!!. Usually after a cruise we talk about crew and we fall in love with all of them, but in this cruise we remember only two lovely and outstanding service, they were Cristina from Jamie's Oliver restaurant and the waiter from Macedonia of Wonderland restaurant (sorry we forgot the name), only two..... so sad for a cruise experience. First cruise with no to much photos, It did not deserve it Read Less

We wanted to try a large ship. we have been on about 12 different ships. Harmony would be the largest. There are a lot of different areas on the ship and we were never felt crowded. We did not find any area that was quiet. Several things went wrong. We traveled with two other couples. One couple (who are travel agents) bid on an upgrade and two days before travel, got their bid accepted. When they arrived at dock, there was no record of their acceptance, and their previous cabin had been given away. Our friends showed the acceptance email, and after much looking around they shown to their accepted cabin. This caused them a two hour delay. There was a lot of confusion about documentation being wrong. This couple did not get all the amenities that went with their elite status. Some were sent to previous cabin. They never received their invitation to top tier Captain invitation. Our invitation said correct cabin but had someone else's name on it. We checked with 5 couples and three of them had something wrong. There was a lot of problems with dining room food. My spouse has severe allergies, so we ensure that everyone is aware ahead of time. We always choose assigned seating so we get same staff every time. All staff were aware, from kitchen, head waiter, waiter and assistant waiter. Even so, on three separate occasions, she was served food that would have caused a severe reactions. Totally unacceptable. Food in buffet was better and less of a risk. Read Less

Embarkation and disembarkation was very fast and smoothly. I got a Cabin with balcony,..although tight, it was enough for a family (2 adults / 2 kids). The initial shock was that the initial package only covers water & Maid lemonade & orange juice. The shows are way too late, so usually the kids would turn into THAT burden!! The first show with that guy spinning for 1h was the worse thing I have ever witnessed in my life, since I was born. The food was OK....but the drink was NOT covered, even wine!!!! The best time of vacation was the beach over HAITI. The worse was Jamaica, where you literally stop at the door of an OUTLET, with NO sand nor beach around. If you want to go to the beach, you must ride 15 miles on a bus or taxi (NOT included). We stepped out for 15 minutes only, noticed the strong tourist trap, and came back to the ship with dry towels. In Cozumel, they stopped the ship for the "whole day", till 6:30PM!! We decided to paid for a whole day "all inclusive", offered by Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas. Another trap = the bus bring you to the beach, but ....hahahahahahahah :) :) ... you must be back at the bus stop at 1:40 PM, so you can get the LAST bus back to the ship. I mean, you get at the beach around 10 AM...and come back at 1:40PM. (3:40 h of "All inclusive" at the beach in Cozumel). IT is clear that they could put the LAST BUS for 4:00 PM,..but... it is what it is. Read Less

Great ship wonderful time on our 8 night cruise. This ship looks very similar to Oasis and Allure only newer so if you like them you will enjoy this ship as well. The food is really good but by the end of the cruise I was really ready to have more choices but that is with any cruise for me. I bought a soda package but would not recommend doing so unless you spend your time around the sports deck. The only cola machine I saw was at the basketball area. If you go to a bar to simply get a soda refill it takes forever and the roving bar service team for the most part seem irritated to bring a coke. Most got a long face when asked to bring a coke. One even asked is that all? One guy took the order and never brought the drink. No more soda package for me. The reason for my review is to warn others about the unsanitary conditions at the barbecue on Labadee. I have eaten from these venues many, many times over the years but no more. In the past I go to the barbecue when the line is long and I guess the volume of people keeps the flies away from the food. I was one of the first in line last week and noticed all of the wrappings were removed from the food containers. As I proceeded through the line I was disgusted to see hundreds of flies just covering all of the food. The hd hb buns were covered with flies and I guess that had been the case since the wrap was removed. I will never eat at one of these barbecues again until better preparation is done to keep the food enclosed and sanitary. My wife and I returned to the ship early to eat a late lunch. The swarm of flies all over this food still makes me sick to think about it. Read Less

Please keep in mind i am reviewing the experience i had for the money I spent. We got the beverage package, excursions, internet, gift packages to our room, and a Jr Suite. I'll start with intermet. I am a tech guy, so I understand what it takes for satellite internet to be reliable for that many people. My voom internet service was great most of the trip. Our Junior suite was very nice, but we did pay a good bit extra for it. Room steward did a great job. Very nice bathroom, (when all is well). More on that later in the review. They have a lot of nice things to do on the ship, and they keep it clean and nice looking. We loved Central Park. The guy playing the piano by request in the Schooner bar at night is excellent. I think John Hyde is his name. Being a guy, I was not thrilled about having to go to the musicals and ice skating with the wife. I will admit, I thought they were all good. The Quest show was very funny and we enjoyed it. The Edge Effect show was not my thing. The Jazz singer in the Jazz bar was not so great. The band was good, but the lady singing was not great. The comedians in the attic bar were both good. The bionic bar is neat, but a cluster to order. It was very disorganized. No lines to take orders on the ipads. You have to be rude and pushy to grab one and order a drink. It could be a lot better with a llittle more organization. All the bars and bartenders were great and friendly. DO NOT get Sippy at On Air to make you his special. You will feel the boat rock all day. He was my favorite bartender. The casino was pretty good. I had fun. Very nice exercise track around the ship. Nice gym area.We scheduled a vitality spa massage. It was ok. I would suggest a deep muscle over the swedish. I needed a little more strength in my massage. They will try and upsale you on some $100 a bottle oils. Get a smoothie at the vitality bar to help with dehydration or hangovers. It really helped. I know this will bother some folks, but if you make rules, enforce them. If the solarium is for adults only, post it better and have someone walk around every hour or so. I would be sitting outside relaxing and sometimes sleeping and unwatched kids would hit my chair and wake me up. You have 80% of the boat set up kid friendly and you have to ruin my little piece. I saw folks come out and put towels in the big wicker chairs at 7am and literally leave them in all day, then go to eat, shop, and do whatever. They would come back 8 hours later and sit for the sunset for 30 minutes, then take the towel out and leave. Kids in bars, enough said. We were able to eat dinner at the Coatal Kitchen because of the JR suite. The food and staff were GREAT. It was nice and relaxing. Wait staff and host could not have been better. We ate once in the Main Dining hall. I got the wrong order after a long wait, and did not even say anything because they had my wife's correct and we had a show. When we were leaving my plate showed up out of nowhere? Park Cafe is nice for a roast beef sandwich and salad. Mini bites has good nachos, other stuff is like little league ballpark quality. Same for the hot dog place. The Windjammer buffet seemed like a cattle drive. Food looked ok, but we left because it was that crowded. I think the ship was full. I found myself drinking twice as much liquor because it was easier to find than the coke machines. Johny Rockets is all inclusive, so you should get the whole meal. My wife wanted onion rings with her roast beef from Park Cafe, and it was still $11. I will say, they gave us a truck load of them and the wife said they were delicious and worth every penny. Sorentos Pizza was pretty decent. Right across from On Air bar when you need something to soak up the liquor. So here was the biggest Royal Carribean problems I had. We had issues with our toilet the first full day of the cruise. We called service and then left the room. We came back and it was flushed, so we thought all is well. We ate dinner and caught a show, then ready for bed. The toilet again did not flush and it was around midnight and the wife was undressed and ready for bed. We called again and they said they were having issues that would be resolved. She ended up having to get dressed again incase staff came in to fix it. They did not, and we had to use public facilities during the night/morning. And for those wondering, we did not put anything weird in it to break it. My thing was, they said it was fixed, but they knew it was not. We then used it and had to call again with an unflushed toilet in a cabin. This was frustrating. Not great communication, not to mention an embarrassing issue to deal with. By halfway point it was fixed, but we were kind of paranoid about it. Another bad customer service issue was we had a shore excursion get cancelled, then they automatically rebooked another one, without even asking us. Once we found out, they would not give us our money back because I did not give them enough notice. I stated i have proof and a receipt showing i did not book that excursion. They said to read the "fine print on the back of the ticket and it shows we can cancel and rebook at our leisure. I stated that is wrong, and why not give me a phone message, email, text, notice under my door, or anything telling me of the cancellation. I was told they could give me a bottle of wine. No thank you. Whenever we had an issue I tried to be polite and calm but then the customer service and staff seemed to be very matter of fact about it. I dont like to get ugly or dramatic to keep from getting taken advantage of. I was told by one staff member, "Well, now you know". I really do know. I know ill look elsewhere for my next trip. Read Less

This was my first time ever cruising and probably my last with Royal Caribbean. Most of the restaurant servers are wonderful, very friendly and professional. Most of the housekeeping staff are great and the rooms and the ship are impeccably clean considering there's 6000 people on board. The cruise director was hilarious. Everyone else needs to return to customer service training or get a better understanding of their jobs... customer service! Perhaps spend some time distance learning with Las Vegas hotel staff, they know how to treat guests. The lack of communication on the ship was the most irritating part of the whole cruise. I thought that they would be, literally, running a tight ship, but events, restaurant times, etc were all poorly communicated to us. Even more annoying that staff would look at you like you were crazy for not knowing what time a restaurant closed. Also, it seems that most things on the cruise close after 7pm! This makes for a very boring time unless you like go dancing or drinking (which still closes around 1:30 am). The times we stayed in each port were extremely short. We only stayed in the Bahamas for 5 hours! You don't have much time to do much in any of the islands except go one shore excursions and lie on the beach for a couple of hours. Maybe if you're a beach bum, this is fine, but I would've liked to explore the islands and visit different places while on the shores. However, all cruise lines may not be able to stay in ports for long and maybe I just need to fly to these islands rather than cruise to truly enjoy them myself The shore excursions were okay. The only one that was questionable was the 5 Star Island tour in the U.S. Virgin Islands since all they did was take us to shops and drop us off at the beach. But, I will cut them some slack since so much of the U.S.V.I. is still damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria and the tour may not have been able to show us everything they usually would. Most of the food on the ship needed salt. But I guess you can't expect excellent food when it's being mass cooked. And one huge problem I had with the ship was how small the pools are. They are about 2 inches long with so many people stuffed inside them trying to swim. Being on a ship is a fun way to travel, but after this experience, I'm definitely not itching to go on another cruise, especially not another Royal Caribbean. Read Less

Terrible food in the free and paid venues. Imitation crab in crabcakes, low quality ingredients evident in all dishes and just cheapeness everywhere Chops is $49 usd a person and quality of steak is on par with outback, add an extra $19 on top of $49 for lobster. Had a fish filet as well and the cheapest red lobster fish entree is better. Had jumbo shrimp cocktail and flavorless and clearly frozen. Awfu for price 150 central park is better but it's still not worth the upcharge they want and quality on par with Applebee's The free venues like the MDR and windjammer are terrible and blatant recycling of food from previous meal service in dishes. Shrimp cocktails have shrimps smallest I've ever seen and thought they forgot the shrimp cause the lemon wedge was bigger than the 4 shrimps and hid them. Cheap ingredients, too few servers so windjammer is always just dirty tables that are empty Overall, paid restaurants are on par with Applebee's and outback or Olive garden for $49 a head . Free venues are food court or school cafeteria quality Didn't see anyone cleaning carpets, walls, or public areas all week other than vacuum. Stains in carpets in common areas service shaky and below other cruise lines for cheaper prices . The good + Pizza, fries and nuggets, room was a good size, gym was sufficient size and had good variety of equipment ..that's about it Read Less

I chose Harmony because I always enjoyed sailing on Allure of the Seas. This was my thirty-sixth (36) cruise and I usually go Solo. I enjoyed my cruise experience because of the many wonderful and interesting people I met, not because of the ship itself. As a returning Diamond member, I received three cookies from Royal Caribbean to welcome me back; 3 cookies I could have picked up from the WindJammer. I returned the cookies to the Diamond Consierge with a note that read "Really!" This ship might have been trying to outdo its predecessors Oasis & Allure, but missed the mark, in my opinion: 1) While a beautiful ship, it was lacking the warmth and character other ships have; 2) The Solarium was hot, had poor air circulation, and there was NO POOL; 3) In the WindJammer Cafe, RC cut back on the number of food stations, limited available food choices, and the quality of the food was mediocre to bad. For 3 days I thought they cut out bagels and bread but it turned out these items were now behind the counter, you had to ask for it then wait for it to be toasted. I did not eat in the main dining room, and was not going to throw away good money at Specialty Restaurants because the included restaurants served mediocre food. On NCL I ate in at least half their Speciality Restaurants because their regular restaurants served such good, quality food. Why was food in Cafe Promenade so bland and tasteless? And RC can learn a thing or two from Carnival when it comes to a Mongolian Wok. Service was friendly but a little slow when making tables available. Although I've been on many large ships, this one did not manage crowds very well. Outside Lounging Areas - RC took away the tables and chairs, replacing them with Adirondack-type, wood composite, low-slung non-adjustable chairs that were too uncomfortable to sit in for any period of time. Was there a fire sale on these chairs? And moving through these areas was a bit confining. On the Central Park Deck they crowded in much more plant-like material, left out the bird statutes and bird sounds Allure & Oasis has and generally made the area feel less open and airy-with narrower pathways. I was truly disappointed in that. But there were definitely more exclusive shopping stores to take more of your money. Embarkation was easy; disembarking was slow through customs for some reason I cannot imagine why. Comments on cabin and shore visits to follow. After taking cruises on smaller NCL and Carnival ships earlier this year, I've decided to go back to sailing on smaller ships after this Harmony experience. I want to feel like I'm being recognized as a valued customer, treated as such, and not viewed as a $ sign. I miss the way cruising used to be and will pay even more money to get some of that feeling back. Read Less

Have been on many RCI cruises and on Oasis and Allure. So we were excited for Harmony. Its been 2 years since being on RCI and things have changed for the worst. The crowds and lines on Harmony were everywhere. The other mega ships after the muster drill people disperse and don't have big issues with lines. The staff is great and very helpful. Embarkation and disembarkation were very good, no issues with crowds at all. It was on the ship that crowds were an issue, dining room for lunch and breakfast had lines out to elevators every morning. Finding chairs around pools were impossible. The solarium is so hot and needs a pool badly. The entertainment is top notch, Grease, Fine line, and Columbus were all excellent. Food quality has gone down significantly was told by waitstaff that a lot of food is not made on board, most desserts and crab cakes are purchased pre-made. They try and pass off Tilapia fish for sole. The diamond lounge is now on deck 4 with no windows and is very small. There were only a few diamond members on cruise so the lounge was not crowed. Gym is on Deck 6 and has porthole windows but is very hot, AC is not adequate for the space. I would not recommend Harmony of the Seas and would think twice about RCI. I enjoy Celebrity and Princess much better. The cruise cost is almost double that of Celebrity Equinox out of Miami and is far inferior in quality of food, and ship board space. We were on Equinox in June and had a much better experence Read Less

I wanted to try one of the mega boats as my previous experiences have been with mid-large sized boats. I've cruised with Carnival, Celebrity, HAL, NCL, Princess and RCI and have mild expectations but RCI was a terrible disappointment for food (free and specialty dining), easily worse of any cruiseline I've been on. Dining MDR - Food temperature, taste and overall quality of ingredients and selection was disappointing, crab cake was just a gooey mess, salmon was always hard as a puck, pasta was overcooked and sauce watery and bland. Soups were always way too salty. Service was good when the servers were around, but they are of course usually too busy Windjammer - Slop, cheap food court quality and selection. Easily the worse buffet I've ever had on a cruise ship, everything is not fresh and just sat in a heating tray before served, very cheap ingredients and selection. Never saw any fish other than Basa and occasional Talapia. no shrimps, squids, no smoked salmon, breakfast was like a holiday inn express affair. Lunch and Dinner are boring, dried up cold food.. Always crowded, tables not cleared timely due to lack of staff and too many guests. Park Cafe - good for quick bite and grab stuff to go, prepackaged salads were poor, but they can make you a salad with basic ingredient which was nice for lunch. Sandwiches and wraps are what you get at a gas station qualitywise Chops - worse than ponderosa, highway robbery for the $49USD they charge with the food they serve. Had a filet and ribeye, sides were terrible. Appetizers like colossal shrimp was hard and had no taste. Additional up charge for lobster or seafood appetizer 150 Central Park - best of the paid restaurants I've tried on board (but that's not saying much), had the grilled scallops and cod as main, standard chain restaurant affair. Appetizers were forgettable but not terrible at least. Jamie's - basically olive garden quality for appetizers, pasta was fresh and good but sauce was watery and/or salty (had the carbonara and Shrimp linguine). Even olive garden has better sauce did I say $$$ for everything that's free on other cruises? and very in your face selling all around the ship there's no deck space to simply sit and have a bite to eat except for crowded small area by the Bites snack bar. Cabin - Best part of my trip, cabin was spacious including bathroom, too bad the tv had nothing to watch and won't even let you connect your own content as it's locked down Shows - watched Finish Line, 1887, Grease. They were fine, as expected for a cruise (don't compare to land based show), finish line is supposedly the feature show on the ship with the diving, but they stretched 4 dives and basically 5mins of content into a 50min headscratching show that was just weird Gym - went to gym daily, it was a good size and you won't have too much problem finding a free machine to do resistance training (may not be one you want but there's ones free), though the free weights area/benches were always crowded. good amount of cardio machine Read Less

This was my third cruise with Royal Caribbean. Each has gotten progressively worse and cost more each time. Excursions: The port of calls were short (approx 3 - 6 hours in port). If you debark the ship make sure you bring your sea pass and photo ID. Once on the pier it is like herding cats. In our first port, there were three tours assembled at the same time and no one knew where to go. Be prepared, if you do decide to take an excursion everything is extra. For example if you take the safari/beach excursion ($115 per person), and want to use their beach chairs and umbrella, it will cost you $10 for each chair and $10 for the umbrella (by the way you are only there for 45 minutes). If you go on the ship sponsored shopping tour in St Thomas, you pay the $8/person bus fare to go to/from town. For the Blue Lagoon beach excursion ($115 per person) swimming out to the float is additional. Dining: Breakfast and lunch in the windjammer is first come first serve. When you and your partner go, ensure one saves a table while the other gets their food. The hot food is cold and the pastries and bread are hard. Dinner is great, though. You eat a lot (too much actually) and it tastes great. Make sure you book your diner time immediately when you arrive to ensure you get a seat. We ate at 7:30 but if you have to make a change the staff is very flexible. Just ask. Embarkation: no problems. Just make sure you have a photo ID and your passport. Everyone is helpful. Entertainment: The shows were the highlight of the cruise. Make sure you sign up the first day for all your shows. You have to have reservations to get in. Again, arrive early. It is first come first serve seating. Onboard experience: Crowded. Lots of kids. The elevators are packed. A trick: the pool is located on deck 15 so if you are going down, go up to the next level and then take the elevator down. Less people and you will be one of the first ones on. The wait staff is friendly but will try to get you to buy a beverage card. Everything is additional. Also, men, dont be surprised if young ladies get preferential treatment by the staff. Overall, I was a disappointed. Read Less

It was our 2nd year. After the first year on this brand new ship was amazing we thought for sure the second year would be too. The service was TERRIBLE- the food decent but not like it used to be. an overall disappointment. The pool staff was rude, the decks super slippery, staff members pretending to work, The spa manager is the worst- please bring back the one you had last summer- she was fabulous. The new one is rude, doesn't smile and sets a very negative tone, the dining room used to go out of their way to make you feel special, remembering your drink orders, making the kids feel special, now asking for more dinner rolls is like asking to win the lottery- we always felt awkward asking for something- the staff always looked inconvenienced. The soda machines for the soda package were constantly out ... what the heck... we pay upfront, therefore we should not have to deal with empty machines- there are not enough soda machines.... again, we pay an upfront fee, we should not have to go all over the ship to find 1 that is working and has been re-stocked. Never enough ice... the machines were dirty..... clean them please. When I think about the service I am sad..... it used to be great.... now it's terrible.... Read Less

i choose this cruise based on friend advice ,and after checking online ,i found that the harmony of the sea is the biggest and most luxurious cruise ship ,and because its my first cruise trip ,i wanted to try the best,and idid my reservation through costco thinking i will have the best experience ever,but i had the worst experience ever,very bad coustmer service ,almost same menu every day( food and desert) The pools are very crowded ,you cant move either ways because you will hit some body,we have to wait more than half hour at the main dining room to get our starters,one of the dining room manager humiliated us because we asked him to change our table,and if you want to have a good food you have to pay for it even in the main dining room,and on the last day morning my 8 years old daughter told me dad you wasted your mony on this trip which made me feel very bad after spending that much mony to make her happy Read Less

Loyalist.. Emerald & Diamond members. The service overall was just poor at best. The ship was absolutely unreal. Plenty for everyone to do and the entertainment was on point. The free food was below average and the Johnny Rockets was great. Makes you wonder if they are trying to drive guests to the dinning you pay for verses the free. Pools & hot tubs are great and there are plenty. I also think the have a great ship that holds a lot of guests but can the staff handle that many. They looked very frazzled compared to my previous cruises I have been on. I did address all these issues with the guest services and they gave me chocolate covered strawberries. I will say the stateroom attendant was great for us. Overall I think I will go to an island or figure out something else for vacation verses getting horrible service. Read Less

My parents cruise often and were impressed with the features of the largest ship in RC’s fleet: Harmony of the Seas. We had a party of 7, including 5 adults and two children. First off, the beds are solid slates of rock. We immediately engaged the staff the first night about our concern over the mattress hardness and they reassured us housekeeping would do their best to soften the bed. Unfortunately, this involved placing a thin mat that was thinner than a blanket under the fitted sheet. This was the only solution the staff could come up with, so my father and husband who were side and stomach sleepers accepted that sleep would be an uncomfortable affair. During the course of the cruise, we found many damaged decorations, elevator buttons, and punched in trash cans as well as crashing royal IQ terminals and printers that were unplugged and non functional from their terminals. Excursion tickets had to be reprinted by guest services. During our evening dining experiences, we dis not experience a single night that did not contain some sort of catastrophe with the food. The first night while eating my baked potato, I bit into a pebble that was hanging onto the skin. Management came over and expressed concern, which was reassuring and insisted this was not the norm. However, we consumed many baked potatoes on the trip and the two children with us each found one in a similar manner on later evenings. There was also a strange seaweed type substance baked into an appetizer tart that was not supposed to be there. Each evening, beverages were frustrating. I drink sparkling water, and had my glasses filled frequently with other clear beverages. This happened with our cokes, unsweetened ice teas, and often beverages were forgotten or incorrect. This also applies to the coffee. Several evenings my parents would order espresso, and it would either arrive in unappropriate cups, cold, or never arrive at all. The staples of the dinner were also inconsistent. The creme brule is served every night and every night it came out different: “barely crisped top, completely charred top, perfect top, fruit scraped off the top and with visble remains left of a berry” top, and so forth. The buffet had several frustrating issues with it as well. I fully support the cruise line’s mission to encourage the washing of hands, but I would suggest they open more than 4 stations if that’s their intent. The 4 stations of handwashing created a huge bottleneck on days the ship were cruising, creating lines that passed the stairwells. Food was often refilled when platters were half empty and on more than 1 occasion was tugged away from our teens when they were reaching for a food item. Food items line pancakes and waffles were disappointing given that they were premade and warmed under a heat lamp or not warmed at all. Our final evening we dined at 150 Central Park, and expected to be wowed given the $50 per head pricetag. Our waiter made us weight nearly 40 minutes to take our order, and they were incredibly apologetic, but the evening continued to ha r some bumps. A glass shattered in my husbands hand, dousing him in his ice tea, but luckily he was all right. The table was cleared with great speed and all was done to ensure he was all right and the cut on his finger was taken care of. The waiter at this point started bringing out many dishes to try and appease us but it ended up overloading our table. The Quality of food however, was excellent. And we had baked potatoes again, alas with no rocks! The resturant also refunded us our head charge, which we appreciated greatly. The staff there was phenomenal, particularly Francisco who completely charmed my 11 year old niece and all of us with his wit and caring disposition. My overall impression of 150 Central Park was mixed, but overall positive. I think if i cruise again, i would take advantage of the dining packages and avoid the main dining room. The wait at the dining rooms and constantly changing waiters make it difficult to create repoire with your waiter and staff. I miss the days when you were sat at the same table each night and had the same wait staff for the duration of your trip. Read Less

We were excited to cruise on this large kid/teen friendly ship and looked forward to the various activities however the lines for the activities were unbelievably long. Some examples: line for rockclimbing - 2 hours line for ziplining - 2 hours line for Abyss - 1 hour Line for flowrider - 2.5 hours There were also long lines getting on and off the ships at Port with waits of more than an hour. This was especially upsetting in San Juan where the ship was only docked for five hours so almost half the stop was spent on line. Lines to get drinks were 45 minutes long - I think they did this to try to curb people who had the drink packages from getting as much alcohol. Forget getting on an elevator unless you had more than an hour to wait and we did not take photos because the lines were between 1 to 2 hours on formal night. Many of the staff were cranky and non-responsive especially at Guest Services! On the second sea day the staff made announcements for a specific guest to come and settle their bill every ten minutes from 6:20 am to 7:00 am with no regard to waking up the entire ship on vacation. This made for some very cranky children. When we complained about the announcements the staff shrugged their shoulders and said "We are working and it is convenient for us now". They could have waited until later - after all we were at sea and the guest could not go anywhere. The food was poor, even in some of the specialty restaurants. At Chops our meat was so bad we had to send it back twice. At Jamies they took our order and after an hours wait came back to tell us that what we had ordered was no longer available and we had to start the ordering all over again with a much more limited menu (they had run out of 5 of the man entrees listed and had only the vegetable plank). The food in the main dining room was of very poor quality and my kids said the items on the children's menu were "gross". It was hard to believe they could mess up macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese so badly that kids would refuse to eat it. On the positive side the rooms were big, the balconies great, the showers had good water pressure and the service from the room stewards was impeccable! The kids club programming and teen lounge/programming was excellent and our kids enjoyed. The shows were great! Would not recommend this cruise - save your money and go somewhere where you can enjoy yourself rather than wait in line. Read Less

I chose this cruise because I had very high expectations of what the ship had to offer. This included the water slides, rock climbing, zipline, multiple pools, shows etc. Unfortunately the ship was FULL!! More FULL than it could be handled. Dinner was a hassle, seeing shows was a hassle, and even getting in the pool without it being uncomfortably full was a hassle. There were mornings in the windjammer where there weren’t even tables available to sit on without a standing wait already wit your food! My trip was in mid June and I guess all the kids were in summer break... In general the staff seemed overworked and were not the usual cheerful cruise staff you would expect. On the bright side my room was very nicely kept and clean and the room attendant was always available. Overall it was not the experience I was aiming for and my next cruise will be with a different company Read Less

Other than the ship being new, modern, and clean, the rest was a big waste of money! My biggest gripe is the kids club. THEY PUT 50 KIDS IN A SMALL SPACE WITH ONE COUNSELOR!!! My son frequents kids clubs everywhere we vacation and NEVER has he refused to go. It's like prison for kids as this one attendant tried to keep them contained by sitting still and playing group games. And, if they become restless, she yells at them. I watched it over and over hoping something fun would start but it never did. The room has almost no toys, there are 3 TV devices only, there maybe was one art project in the entire week. My some kept asking for the "Science lab" they have and advertise on the internet but they had only ONE event in the room and parents HAD to attend in order for the child to be there. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy the spa, bars, casino etc because my son wanted to spend the days with us. On different notes, the rest was also disappointing. There were no happy hours with appetizers anywhere, food is mediocre at best, always long lines for everything, staff is ok but treat you like a mass produced number. There is no personalized service at all and we paid extra for a Jr. suite. I was very disappointed there was no public space to set while cruising, read a good book, look out a window and drink a coffee as I have enjoyed on other ships. Every inch of view is taken up by stateroom so RCL can maximize profits. This attitude is apparent all over the ship, it's all about saving skimping and maximising profits. We will not be cruising with them again. Read Less

We were so disappointed when we learned ( after we boarded) we had to book all on board shows ahead of time.- we didn't get the full experience of the cruise. When I called RC, they wanted to help me book excursions, but they never said--{hey can we help you book your shows on board). When you are on vacation, you hope you have some flexibility in your schedule---That is what VACATION is all about. Everything was extra, no room service without a cost. The formal dining was awful,what happened to the waiters that were all about service . . That was not how it used to be. The buffet was good! Compared to years past, the food in the main dining rooms was so below average. What a disappointment for the money---no more cruising with you for us.. We have been cruising with you since 1991--the quality has dropped so much yet the prices keep going up. We sailed from Ft Lauderdale 5/26/18 with 8 of us in total, 3 of which have never cruised. Royal Caribbean was always our go to cruise line, but no more. We will be looking for a cruise line that meets our needs and is upfront about the costs.. Read Less

POOLS: Three tiny pools with literally thousands of people packed around them. By the end of the cruise the pools were so gross (assuming from all the people and urine in them) that we decided not to even go in. FOOD: The dining was good for the first two days, then the menu got old REAL fast. Each night, the menu had all the same items except for two options that changed. We felt like they have decided to push everyone out of the free dining areas and into the expensive "Pay to dine" specialty areas. I don't understand why the prices of the specialty diners are so expensive? Shouldn't they be discounted when there are other food options for free and we've already paid for them? ENTERTAINMENT: Entertainment on the ship was good, but you literally had to book them within the first two hours of boarding the ship or all the good time-slots were taken. We ended up having to do three shows on the same day in order to be able to experience them all, and then three of the nights we didn't have any sort of show to see. EXCURSIONS: Bahamas was so run down and had so much construction by the beach we went to, it wasn't even enjoyable. St. Thomas had a ton of damage as well and our snorkeling adventure was mainly looking at dead coral and fish that look like they could've been in fresh water - boring and non-colorful. St. Kitts we did the zip-lining and ONE person before I was supposed to go, the zip-line stop restraint broke while he was stopping and it snapped up, hit him in the back of the head, and knocked him out cold! We had to wait there for a good 20 minutes, and then they said "go ahead, it's safe now" and I had to zip-line right after that. I definitely didn't feel very safe. Read Less

We have been Disney cruisers but based on others reviews thought we would try RC since our kids are getting older. The Harmony of the Seas is huge and jammed with people. For as much experience as RC has I would have thought they would be better at handling the crowds. Expected lines one some of the extreme activities but not at every meal. Windjammer would offer special entrees like stir fry but only have 2-3 people cooking on a ship with 6000+ passengers. Staff seems unhappy and almost annoyed by passengers. Drink stations are scarce unless you are looking for a bar and many of the drink stations are closed most of the time. Entertainment was good and water show is pretty amazing. The movies on board were all old so no real draw. The kids clubs are very limited and our kids hated them. They were required to do whatever the counselor on duty chose as a large group activity. Teen room was okay and seemed to have more options as they would occasionally close ping pong or basketball courts for teen only time. St Kitts was a great port and I highly recommend the rainforest tour as it is beautiful and there is some nice snorkeling right off the beach. The actual port in St Kitts is not very nice as they are new to the tourism world. St Thomas has beautiful white sand beaches and the shopping can be fun. Nassau is okay but the port time did not allow for much exploring. This is the first cruise we have ever been on that we didn't book another. Read Less

After cruising on disney for half a dozen cruises perhaps i had unrealistic expectations. Nonetheless felt the crew was less service oriented, tired, and seemingly annoyed by the passengers. Boat was quite impressive but definitely not sold on rccl and doubt we will try them again. Did reinforce how disney leadership continual presence and training pays off. Didnt see any active engagement bu leadership on this boat. Grease and other shows were fantastic. Not a fan of bar entertainment or activities. Although boat was new it seemed already abit beaten up and not cared for as disney boats. Public restrooms were not overly clean. Food was good although MTD seemed chaotic and not real seamless. Casino is nice but extremely smoky. Also smoking section on deck is in prime real estate so you definitely get the feeling you smoke as you walk through it several times a day. Overall. - meh Read Less

Have cruised with Royal many times but was very disappointed on this ship the food quality was horrible the meat was tasteless and tough (except for the excessive amount of salt and I'm a salt lover). The dining room and windjammer are extremely cramped hard to get to table without disrupting others. Dinner service is very slow waiters are serving to many tables at one time. Rooms are very nice the new layout gives you more room. The pool deck is very busy but has many chairs to accommodate everyone. Labadie is great many things to do or just kick back on the beach. Jamaica is not my favorite although the port is clean and the islanders do not harass you but once you leave the gates your on your own it's crazy. Cozumel is a great place to shop and go to the beach. Not sure I will book with Royal next year going to go Celebrity. Read Less

Cabin Excellent. This cruise wasn't expected. Royal Caribbean is one of the best Cruise Line in the world. I think they have blurred and are looking only at their big ships but leaving behind the experience of quality and service and that is not good. As a distinguished customer I have traveled on over 15 cruises most of Royal Caribbean and thought this ship was going to be different. The service of Excursions wasn't good, the cruise director is the worst of all cruise directors I ever seeing in my cruises experience. The decoration of the ship is no longer the same lacks of creativity, the menu of the main restaurant was always the same and the conditions of the pools were deteriorated to be a new ship. Royal Caribbean is my cruise line and I am worried about this new turn that they are giving only giving importance to big ships and leaving behind the customer service and quality that characterizes them. I will continue making cruises with Royal but this ship wasn't meet my expectations. Before I took Oasis and Allure; Harmony wasn't good enough. Read Less