J and K Adventures: Scenes from the Harmony of the Seas

One of the things I soon realized was that technology was going to be important on the ship. Everything was organized by your room number which was also connected to your status (Diamond or not), your credit card and all the activities you registered for. I did not realize you could reserve space at all the shows up until 3 days before your cruise left, so we were at a disadvantage from the beginning. But we bought the internet and downloaded the app and started reserving shows and dining times. That was a relief to the type A half of my traveling personality. The type B part wanted the sun, the water, and a massage.

The ship was so large, it was a challenge just to figure out where you were. We managed to navigate by learning which floors contained the activities we were most interested in. Like eating. That was on the 4th floor. For dinner. But there were lots of other options, including the giant buffet and the restaurants were spread around the ship. So it was complicated. The first two days were at sea, so we did a lot of walking and exploring while trying to avoid the major crowds. There was a starbucks, a carrosel, a casino, an ice rink, a huge auditorium a spa and beauty parlor, and a whole bunch of bars. Whew.

After an afternoon at the main pools on the 15th floor, listening to loud annoying techno music for two hours, dodging screaming kids and drunken adults, we spent some time going from bow to stern to try and locate a more relaxing spot. And we found it. The solarium was at the very front of the boat. It had baffles to interrupt the wind that is usually a problem at the bow, and lots of sun, quiet, lounge chairs and two hot tubs. There was also a small buffet with really good food and hardly any germy kids! Yay!

We enjoyed getting dressed up and going to the Diamond club room before dinner where we had snacks and free drinks. Dinner in the dining room was great and felt a lot safer than eating in the buffet. Jeff tried the casino, but found the machines to be less than rewarding. Jeff tried out the Abyss slide and we both enjoyed the water slides. Even on our at sea days, there was plenty to do (or not do).

By the end of our voyage, we had gotten into a good routine, met some people that were fun to hang out with and were able to make our way around the ship without getting lost too many times