Harmony of the Seas - Falmouth, Jamaica -Day 4

We are in Jamaica today. RCCL specifically built this pier/port for their larger ships, though other ships use the same area. If the weather is bad supposedly the larger ships can still get into this port but smaller ships will not be able to. It is unclear to me but then I am not a sailor. 

We had a lovely drive along the shore and up the mountain side. With gears grinding in our little bus we chugged along, I'm thinking with no shocks to absorb the ruts in the road. Our guide pointed out many things, including the Ackee tree with fruit on it and passed a ripe one around for us to see. 

Ripe Ackee Fruit

Today we booked d a tour of the Greenwood Great House owned by the Barrett family (Think Elizabeth Barrett Browning, though she never came here). The tour was called "A Journey Back in Time" and  it really was. There were numerous antiques, gorgeous views, and a delicious snack at the end. The guides were great and had so much information to give. This initial estate was over 8,000 acres, was a sugar plantation. They have kept the estate in good condition, this is apparently all that is left  of the many building they used to own both as homes and for the sugar plantation. Our tour concluded with a visit though the town of Falmouth to see some older buildings and visit a small church from the 1700's. There was a brief shopping stop and I got some Jerk seasoning. For sure I could buy that at home but these people rely on tourism for their income and the tips they make mean a lot to them. 

Greenwood Great House

Just One of Many Views

Antique Love Seat

Of course they are very proud of William Knibb who was a Baptist minister who helped free the salves. They have named a few things after him. The famous Usain Bolt (fastest man in the world) went to William Knibb Memorial High School. I think they said "Bolt" has 5 world records and 9 Olympic Gold medals, but I'm not positive about that. We also saw the Elizabeth Somerville House. She built two rooms in 1836 shortly after being emancipated. Very few women owned property in 1836, much less built their own homes. This was 2 years after the end of slavery in Jamaica. Another tidbit is Falmouth had running water in 1799, yes a public water system before NYC!  

Elizabeth Somerville's House

I've never seen a hibiscus like this one. 

There are a lot of tropical flowers.

We had a late lunch at Solarium Bistro, which is self seating and self serve at lunch. We went back to our cabin after that and relaxed until an early dinner. Tonight we ate in the same dining room, again table 911! We both had crab cakes for our appetizer, John had pork chops for his entree and I had Spaghetti Carbonara. It was different from any carbonara I have had before. It was a white sauce instead of red and had a perfectly poached egg on the side. The egg did cut the saltiness of the pancetta in the carbonara. 

Crab Cake Appetizer

Spaghetti Carbonara

Broiled  Pork Chops 

Cherries Jubilee for John

We had a reservation for the Headliner show but neither of us really felt like going so we went back to our cabin and rented Sully and watched that. We are sort of glad we won't be visiting a port tomorrow as we are tired. Next port of call, Cozumel.

Harmony of the Seas - Labadee, Haiti - Day 3

I convinced John to go to the Windjammer for breakfast. The room service menu is very limited. I went to the Diamond Lounge and got "good" coffee and worked on the blog from yesterday. Our excursion doesn't start until 12:30p but we went off the ship about 11a. The pluses to having the RCCL Labadee experience are many: You can use your Sea Pass card on shore for anything, there is a dining area all set up for your convenience, they will transport you around this area, and you feel quite secure to be on "their" beaches, etc. They even have multiple wheelchairs, both the regular type and those with big tires to go on the sand. This is a great touch for the older travels on this cruise. The down side is you don't really experience the Haitian culture of "real" life. Therefore, we chose to do a Cultural Tour that showed us how some 80% of the people live on this portion of the island. An amazing 10 million people live on Haiti! The other portion of this Island is the Dominican Republic. 

After getting off the ship we walked around the area and had our lunch at the Dragon Buffet. They had ribs, chicken, burgers, dogs, salads, fruit, melons, and desserts. After eating we walked down to the water and looked at various amenities. Soon it was time for our tour and we boarded our boat to the skirt around part of the island and arrive at a nice quiet cove and beach. This is the area where they have a village made and give tours. First we had our welcome drink and they we walked to the old village. We saw how they make their own peanut butter and tasted it as well. We also ate Cassava bread (better known to us as Mandioca in Brazil, yucca in Mexico, Taro in Hawaii). Then there was the fragrant coffee... it was a nice. What wasn't  nice was that part  of our group was very rude in talking over the guide and speaking very loudly all the time. Why is it that some groups of people are so loud and seem to be screaming at each other in their own language.  It was embarrassing how rude they were to our guide. Anyway, it did not distract from us enjoying our  time there. After the tour of the village we took a swim in the lovely clear water and relaxed on the beach until it was time to return to the ship. 

Our Ride for Today

The Village

These people work very hard to scratch out a living.

After we got back and cleaned up we had just enough time to make it to The Solarium Bistro for our dinner. This is a complementary restaurant but does have items on the menu you can purchase for a price as well (ie: lobster, filet mignon) This bistro works a bit differently than some of the other eateries. They have salads and appetizers that you go up and help yourself to what you want. Meanwhile, you have ordered your main dish and it is served when you are ready. John had the skirt steak with fries and I had the garlic shrimp. My shrimp had nothing with it but just  the shrimp, which was fine. The appetizers were the star tonight - Oh what choices! There were at least 30 options. My favorite tonight was the mussels in a cream sauce. After your entree you can help your self to dessert, about 10 choices. The  Creme Catalan (much like crème brûlée) was fantastic as was the fresh berries and panna cotta. 

Solarium Bistro

We are tired tonight, nothing is booked and we talked about renting Sully to watch on TV since we didn't get to see it in the theater. However, we were barely back to our cabin and John was sound asleep. Tomorrow is Jamaica so that  is fine, he needs his rest. 

Harmony of the Seas - Day 2

I forgot to put out the menu to get coffee delivered this morning. Once I looked at the menu I found there was only continental breakfast via room service. We called for the coffee and John ordered fruit, juice, and sweet rolls as well. We ended up having time to go to the Diamond Lounge to get espresso and cappuccino. They also have a nice little array of foods to have along with your coffee. We had time to make it to the Meet & Mingle Cruise Critic event at 10a. It was typical, we didn't win a prize but got some lanyards. lol We skipped the Slot Pull they had planned because there as a "Top Tier" event for us in the Aqua Theater. Free drinks, a short sample show, introductions of the Captain and others. It was enjoyable, even if a repeat of every cruise except for the brief Aqua Show sampling.

We ate lunch at the Windjammer "Marketplace" as they call it on this ship. This buffet is also an upgrade from past ships. They have things very well organized. Instead of the long buffet line or two, there are at least 5 stations of food: Hot, salad, sandwiches & fixings, then there are hot dog, pizza, & hamburgers stations with a variety of each for your choosing (vegan, etc). For some reason, it didn't seem crowded. I am continually surprised how "uncrowded" this ship seems when you consider the number of people on board! But my thoughts wander - back to the Windjammer. There are drink stations as well: Soda machine for those with the package where you can fill your own cup, cold drinks which included 4-6 types of Vitality water (which tastes more like juice at least for the watermelon/kiwi I got for John), iced tea, lemonade. Then hot drinks with at least 10 types of tea bags, coffee, & decaf.  

So moving along through our day we walked around the ship and then relaxed until it was almost time for our early dinner. We briefly explored the Central Park neighborhood, very lush abundance of live plants and you almost feel like you are in a park! It was quiet and peaceful like a park when we were there. We hit our Diamond Happy Hour for a Lemon Drop martini and then headed to dinner - very nice. We walked right in (with reservation), John wanted a table for two. It is hard for him to converse with other people due to hearing difficulties. Table 911?!? We each had an appetizer, then lobster bisque, then the tenderloin. I'm never quite sure what "tenderloin" is going to be but this was scrumptious, tender, and perfectly done to med-rare. We did wait a bit for the main course but not terribly long. 

911

We were finished with dinner sooner than we thought so we decided to walk around some more and then head to The Fine Line Aqua show. We wanted to get there early because John wanted to sit in the canvas chairs that are in every other row. The alternate row is wooden benches but they have a back and seemed comfortable enough to me. Anyway, we were there early and enjoyed relaxing, watching people, and the balmy air this evening. 

The Fine Line show is hard to describe but it is breathtaking! The music is not for everyone and I can imagine my Mom would not have liked the show. We liked it a lot. It is a combination of Alternative music, break dancing, modern dance, acrobatics, high dives, synchronized swimming, and much more. It really is hard to describe. Warning: if you are siting in the front rows you will be splashed a lot. Anywhere you sit you will get drops of water as entertainers come from the water and sail overhead! 

The Fine Line

After the show we headed back to our cabin where our Towel Tony was waiting for us. On the way you can sense the excitement onboard and hear the different music and dancing venues along the way - Something for everyone! 

Towel Tony

Harmony of the Seas - Day 1

The day is finally here. We allotted 5 hours to get everything done and arrive at our 12-12:30 check in appointment at the ship. We ran a little bit behind leaving the campground at 9:15, but the  drive was simple with little to  no traffic. We easily dropped off Tony, we even got to see him on video before we left when he was interacting with different dogs. GPS is a good thing and we found the parking without a problem. It was a surprisingly small parking establishment but they did have a double spot for us and the van was just waiting to take us to the ship. When they dropped us off they also showed us where we should wait to be picked up. We call them and stick the yellow sticker they gave us on our shirt. Seems easy enough. 

There were throngs of  people milling all around but even so it was very well organized. We got in the "Diamond" line which is very short. Then it's up to the next floor where we queue again, also very fast for Diamond. It is more crowded for others. We are ON the ship and having some pizza by noon, which was our appointment check in time. So, all of that was great. The floors are closed off and rooms will not be ready until 1p. Also something different is you use your boarding pass paper as you Sea Pass until you get to your room because your Sea Pass card is waiting at your room. 

The first day of a cruise is not the best IMHO. You need to "find" all the right things you desire and some are not too clear. We couldn't get any ice for our room and room service on this ship is very different than other ships we have been on. Maybe RCCL has changed their room service menu on all ships or just this one? Of course there's the Muster - at least we don't have to carry the life vest all around with us, in fact we don't even have one in our cabin. Apparently they are provided at our station if needed. They changed the times of our excursions and we were not notified until we got to our room and saw the tickets. The internet seems very good and instead of buying minutes, now you buy days. Once I figured it out, it works pretty well. In addition, you can use the Royal iQ ap for your phone and you don't need to use internet to use it on board. 

At least two ships left port before us and two more after us. It is a huge port and can accommodate more than five ships. The Harmony of the Seas is beautiful, so fresh and modern. The decor is all nicely coordinated. For instance, the hallway carpets complement the cabin carpets the design of the cabin carpet is followed through on lamps, the pulls for the drawers and closets. All subtle colors of grays in our cabin with tasteful blue and gray shades in the hallways. Numerous electronic billboards keep you up to date on different thing happening throughout the ship. On the upper class ships you can now purchase a WOW band (worn like a Fit Bit) that is also your Sea Pass to open your cabin door or make all purchases. This band is $4.99 and is re-programmable on your next cruise, provided your ship has that capability. 

We stopped on the Promenade to see the Bionic Bartender - It draws quite a crowd. We'll try it later.

We had dinner at Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar. at the Boardwalk Neighborhood. Overall, I would give it 3.5 stars. The menu is not large, staff is friendly, guacamole was fabulous, main courses are on the small side (fine for us but most people would want more. I thought you paid one price for whatever you ordered like other specialty restaurants, but each item is separately priced. Neither of us had the tacos, which seemed to the main item on the menu. I don't think we would try it again. There is a carousel, Johnny Rockets, Starbucks, a hot dog place, a kids play space, and much more in the Boardwalk neighborhood. Far aft is the Aqua Theater. 

We had reservations for Grease tonight, it was very well done. Even though the shows are complementary you must have a reservation to get in. If you are not there 15 minutes before the show is to start they cancel your reservation and there is open seating for anyone then. 

Diamond benefits seem slightly different than presented in the past. Now the complementary happy hour can be done two ways. You can go to the Diamond Lounge 5-8:30p and have all the drinks you want from the select menu - and/or - you can go to any bar between 5-8:30p everyday and have 3 drinks per day, also from the select menu. These three drinks are loaded on your Sea Pass card. Your complementary drinks can not obtained at the Bionic Bar or the Rising Tide Bar.  Instead of getting a coupon book there  is just a sheet of paper in your cabin that lists the perks you will get. 

I'm sure there much more to share but my mind has gone blank. 

TOMORROW!!! - (not that we're excited or anything)

We worked most of the day getting our trailer in shape and getting ourselves packed. We  think we are all set to board the Harmony of the Seas tomorrow! Can't wait!!!

Tomorrow!!!

Just TWO More Days!

We are very excited to  get on board this cruise. I hope we can find our way around! At this point in time it is the largest cruise ship in the world. I understand larger ones are being built as I type. We have been puttering around our campsite and getting a few things in place. I did laundry today and we will do more of that tomorrow and complete packing. Yesterday, we sent all the required documents to Lauderdale Pet Lodge for Tony. I wanted to send them sooner but they didn't want them too far in advance. Our double parking space is reserved and paid for with a free shuttle to the port. The count down is on!!!