Harmony Of The Seas (For the third time) 2-16-25

Starting this thread a little early because I am procrastinating at work



This will be my third time on Harmony, last time on Harmony was about the same time last year when we went with some friends, just worked out this way this year. There is also a big Celiac group cruise on this sailing (they did the same cruise last year as well) which has its pros and cons. Last year the Celiac group got the top floor of the Main Dining Room and the Solarium Bistro, and half of the buffet. Not a huge deal, but did create some lines. I think they also might have held some events in Dazzles venue.



We chose this particular cruise because



1) it was free with casino



2) close to home so more affordable (4 hr drive)



3) one of our favorite schooner bar performers will be onboard



Originally, I really wanted to do the Wonder out of Port Canaveral but I had a lot of friends talk me out of it, due to PC being a b*tch to get to and they said they thought the shows/activities on Harmony Even though I've seen the shows on the Harmony a few times, I have a short-term memory when it comes to things like shows so every time I go it's like the first time haha. Then I found out that our fav Schooner bar performer Justin was on this sailing and it sealed the deal, we were doing Harmony again instead of Wonder.

 

Last time we sailed out of Galveston was over the 4th of July with my in-laws on Mariner of the Seas. That cruise got extended by two days because of Hurricane Beryl. For that trip, we drove down the morning of the cruise and were exhausted whenever we got on the ship and had to take a 3 hr nap that day. So this time around, we are driving down on Saturday morning, going to a couple of museums (haven’t decided which ones yet), and spending the night in Houston at a cheap hotel (Towneplace Suites in the Galleria area). This *should* be a 1 hr drive from Houston to Galveston on Sunday so we *should* be refreshed and not exhausted.



Usually we had at least an Oceanview or Balcony, but could only get an inside for this sailing as it is over a holiday weekend. It’s not a huge deal, but I will miss the natural light for sure and will have to make sure alarms are set every morning. We are on Deck 8, right by Central Park (A green space on the ship) and I have never been at this location so will be interesting to see if I spend more time in Central Park or not.



Since I have already gotten the points I need for this calendar year, I plan to do about 75% tables and 25% slots. The new calendar year for Royal Caribbean's Casino Royale program starts April 1st and I would need like 20k points to get to the next level so not going to go for it. Whenever I cruise in the fall, I normally go hard on the slots since tables aren’t rated as generously. I am excited to devote more of my bankroll to tables and hopefully can get back some of the money I lost in Vegas last month.

 

Oh you def should go, esp since they put in the new port area. I will take pictures of it but it is really nice. Harmony was built in 2016 but last year when I sailed her she was still looking brand new!

I've parked at 2-3 different locations here, all pretty much the same and I *think* I am using Lighthouse this time around. I think it was 50.00 cheaper than the official port parking (I am paying 100.00 for the week)

Do you have any restaurant recommendations? We will be staying in the Galleria area but will have a car so we are willing to drive a little if it is worth it. Supposed to be terrible weather on Saturday so should be good for museums in the Houston area.

 

Leaving for Houston today ( 4 hr drive)

Supposed to be rainy, so I am going to a couple of museums and then maybe Galleria if we have extra time to burn before supper.

I am bringing WAY too much but we hardly ever drive to places and I am taking advantage of that!

 

Here's one of the ducks I am hiding and some of the door magnets I made for the magnet exchange

 

Let the drinking begin!

 

On the ship! Time to drink

 

Round 2-Mai tai and a Goombay Smash

 

Will post updates tomorrow, my internet was basically unusable

 

Alright so here is my review of the rest of my trip!


The first sea day was really relaxing! We found some ducks, we both got decently drunk in the evening at the casino and somehow I woke up with 8 black chips in my purse haha





Here is where a negative comes in. Because this had 800 people who booked some sort of “celiac cruise” they closed the top floor of the main dining room, so almost everyone else had to wait two hours to eat in the main dining room. So we waiting 1.5 hrs the first night to get seated and we got in line 1 hr early, so we decided that was the last time we were doing that. When I complained and tried to get better times, they said they could do nothing. The celiac group also got solarium bistro for lunch so there wasn’t a lot of options for eating (more on this later)


We stayed on the ship in Roatan. We’ve been many times so we just sat by the pool to drink and read. A few families with kids did as well, which kept me away from the pool because the color of the water was bad news.

 

The second sea day we booked specialty dining at Jamie’s Italian which was very good.

the rest of the cruise we ate at the buffet, which was the worst experience I’ve ever had on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Very few options for such a huge ship, and poor quality. We did like eating lunch at mini bites and park cafe and we of course ate our fair share of pizza with FULL RED.
By mid week we were only up 400.00 but still holding on to our profit. The dealers on ships are so much fun, better than Vegas ones imho!

we had so much fun at the schooner bar with Justin!




And found another duck!

 

In Costa Maya, we took a taxi to Mahahual Beach to get some tacos and beer at a local place, La Pancha. Super good, lots of expats where eating there so that’s how you know it’s good



I can still remember the heartburn I got from this, so spicy!!!

 

I told my husband that the night before we get off in Cozumel, we are going to bed early because our excursion had a 7am start time…what do you think happened?

 

Don’t worry, we were punished with our 5:30 am wake up call with barely any breakfast options and a headache

Plus, whenever we stepped outside with our excursion group, pouring down rain, decently bad weather. So there was no snorkeling, no refund, I ended up just sleeping on a beach chair under an umbrella getting decently wet but somehow that didn’t matter haha! Our excursion then took us to a place to eat for lunch which wasn’t included (very expensive and very blah) but it was much needed after the night we had



Notice the beers in the picture…we aren’t quitters