Just back from a week in the Caribbean on the Royal Caribbean “Harmony of the Seas”. Harmony can be described in two three-letter words. The first word is “BIG”. With about 5500 adult passengers, 1500 children, and probably 2000 staff, this boat is a little floating city. If you go to the various traditional areas of the ship, it's like any other, except there's more of it. But it also has room for some special areas. “Central Park” is pleasant, and one of the quieter areas. Several specialty restaurants are located there. There's a “Boardwalk” with hot dogs, games, etc., a huge water slide, fast food galore, and a 5th avenue style Promenade, etc. I'm quite sure that the families with kids loved it. For adults, a couple of restaurants, “150 Park” and “Chops Grille”, were worth a couple of visits. (We didn't go to the Japanese or Italian restaurants. The former was mainly sushi, which my wife doesn't eat. The latter appeared to be quite ordinary, which didn't appeal to we former New Yorkers at all.) Let's see, there's a jogging track, a basketball court, classes to take, etc. Entertainment and was plentiful and good. Specifically, the jazz band was very good, and they had a nice piano bar, classical guitar, dance bands and comedy clubs. A lot to do. The staff is quite nice, as well.

OK, the second descriptive word is “ZOO”. There are just too many people on this boat! The main buffet dining room was huge, but for much of the day you couldn't easily find a seat. There are three large dining rooms, but there often are long lines. (You can make reservations, which helps.) The food was presented well, but often not very good. If you want to use the the large gym, go early or you won't get a machine for a while. The deck chairs are often very full. (The Solarium in the front of the ship at least gets you away from the noise a bit, but in general, quiet areas are hard to come by). And there are times when you can't go to the special areas without encountering 5th Avenue at Christmas – read “panic attack”. Other issues: they haven't done a good job of containing the cigarette smoke from the casino; embarking and dis-embarking appeared disorganized (due to 7000 passengers, most likely); entertainment featured some talented people, and some really good shows (e.g., ice skating and diving), but we thought that some of the choices were strange (e.g., a 46 year old musical, and a very silly show about Columbus).

Bottom line? If you're a family with kids, go for it! Similarly, if you're a 20 or 30-something who wants to “do the town”, you'll like it. If you're older, or just want to relax in between ports, or want really good food, not so much. For us, we'll stick to the smaller boats.