Just booked first cruise! Questions

ShelbyK

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 4, 2018
Hey everyone
Just booked Harmony of the seas for July 21 2019.. I went on a Celebrity cruise as a teen but had no part of the planning so I'm considering this my first cruise lol. In my cruise planner most things are not available yet to book (only dining and spa so far)..when do things start showing up? Also it is only showing 2 port excursions for each of our stops, is that normal or will more be added? For a family with 3 kids would you recommend my time dining or should I just do the 5:30? Thanks and I'm sure I'll have more questions soon!
 
Congrats on booking your "first" cruise! I did a Harmony cruise last year - review is in my signature if you want to look.

In my cruise planner most things are not available yet to book (only dining and spa so far)..when do things start showing up?
At this point you can probably book drink and spa packages. Dining will show up at some point, and entertainment pops up around 3-5 months before departure. I think they release the schedules in blocks based on the month of departure, so I'd guess you'll see entertainment in March 2019.

Also it is only showing 2 port excursions for each of our stops, is that normal or will more be added?
I would think that more will be added. CocoCay is doing a renovation, and the pay-to-play waterpark should be up and running by the time you set sail, so definitely more there. With St. Thomas and St. Maarten there's probably business factors at play in addition to hurricane recovery. You can do an online search for 3rd party excursions though - not saying you should book with the 3rd party vendors, but in terms of research it helps to see what's out there.

For a family with 3 kids would you recommend my time dining or should I just do the 5:30?
This is gonna be a wishy-washy answer, but I think it's best to try and keep dinner aligned with your schedule at home. With my kids they tend to get hungry around 5:30-6 so the fixed dining works just fine for me. But others may have kids that like to eat around 7pm, in which case MTD works for them. And some people are coming from the west coast and want to try and maintain that Pacific time, so dinner at 8pm (or later) is perfect.

If you do MTD, make sure you reserve your times online. Without kids I'm sure you could go with the flow, show up and wait for a seat. With kids... well you know.
 
I haven't been on Harmony (yet!) but I have cruised RCL. Excursions will show up, and often there are discounts that pop up as well (usually on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, and others, they will usually send you an email letting you know). The drinking packages will also go on sale sometimes if that interests you, but not the pop only package, I don't think it's ever on sale.

For dining, we have done early and my time. With My Time I booked all our meals at about the same time, and we were seated at the same table each night. For early we were seated with another family, for My Time we were seated alone. Not sure if that is standard or not, we prefer to eat alone. We are early eaters, kiddo is hungry by 5 most nights so we prefer to eat early any way, but if you are in a port late you may want to use My Time and eat a bit later those days.
 
Congratulations on booking. You should enjoy yourselves.

Dining: Where you eat is very much a matter of preference and what type of clothing you want to pack for dinner. The Windjammer is a buffet open for all three meals and typically opens for dinner at 6 pm; it is casual (no swim suits) dress. All of the other restaurants require reservations, the one exception is if you are already assigned a time in the main dining room. They also have dress codes ranging from casual to dressy casual to super dressy (formal night/captains dinner). Some of the speciality restaurants you will be able to book in cruise planner in a few months. When planning dining think about what you might feel like after a day of touring: are you and the kids more likely to want to splash in the pool, take a quick shower, toss on clean clothes and head to a buffet or shower, put on nice clothing and have a table service meal?

Cruise planner: I have a love-hate relationship with it. Shore excursions, drink and internet packages should start showing up shortly. There are typically more than 2 excursions per stop - depending on the itinerary anywhere between 10-16 I find to be the norm. You will also start receiving emails from RCL with discounts for drink, internet and some shore excursions. Do not book your drink packages - if you choose to go that route - without it being on sale. If you know there is something you want to do at one of the stops that is not a listed excursion, reach out to RCL Private Journeys and they can help customize something for you.

Other suggestions:
*There will be an arcade on board. If your kids are into that type of thing find and read the small print regarding charging on their SeaPass card at the arcade. You may not be able to do that until 90 days out though.
*Lay out the rules for the kids charging anything to their SeaPass card - milkshake at Johnny Rockets, cupcake at the cupcake shop, items at the store, etc.
*Start looking for lanyard holders for their SeaPass cards. The card will need to be held in a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard as I believe that Harmony has card contact door locks instead of swipe door locks.
*Your state room will be tiny with 5 of you in it. If possible have the kids pack in duffle bags instead of suitcases, or make them share a suitcase. This gives you less to store in the closet or room.
*If you receive information about ‘Luggage Valet’, and your airline participates, I strongly suggest paying the fee. The program will take your luggage from the ship to the airport saving you the hassle of having to collect it after disembarking. The program is not offered at all ports.
*The last night your luggage needs to be outside your door by either 10 or 11 pm. Make sure all items that you keep out will meet TSA guidelines.
*Sign everyone up for Crown & Anchor.
*At check in your kids will be given color bracelets that they will need to wear the entire trip. The bracelets are coded with their muster station information on it and are mandatory for all children under a certain age (not sure if it is 11 or 12).
*Every time you get on the ship you will go though security, it is similar to TSA.
*The fewer electronic devices the better, or plan your charging schedule carefully. Depending on the ship I have had only 2 outlets in a stateroom.

Hope this helps.
 


Start looking for lanyard holders for their SeaPass cards. The card will need to be held in a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard as I believe that Harmony has card contact door locks instead of swipe door locks.
This is correct - the SeaPass cards on Harmony are RFID. If you already have a lanyard they'll supply the plastic pocket thingie to you (if they have it in stock).
 
Congrats on your booking! We've been cruising with our kids for the last ten years and they absolutely love RCL.

On the dining thing - how old are your kids? If on the younger side say under 7, I would go with fixed 5:30. I don't know if they still do it, but RCL used to have a programme where they would serve the kids meals quickly, and then the kids club staff would collect the kids at the entrance to the dining room - leaving the adults to linger over dessert/coffee/wine. If your kids are older, then maybe the MTD might work better. But bear in mind, to get the most out of it, you will still want to schedule your dining times for each day well in advance of your cruise. You can always change them later, if needed.
 
Since your cruise isn’t until July 2019 you won’t see anything for quite awhile. Watch for cruise planner sales- sign up for your roll call on CruiseCritic.com. This was how I was emailed on Thanksgiving that the drink package was on sale (cruise was in April on Harmony) we got the Ultimate drink package for $355.18(including 18%gratuity) saving almost $100 PP BUT we were friends- it was so convenient and I don’t think it would have been worth it if we were alone. I kept track and our bill would have been $841.26 had we paid OOP. Here is the BIG savings- one friend had to get the Royal Refreshment package- Thanksgiving it was on sale for $8 plus18%!!!! Regularly $26 plus 18%!!! RoyalCaribbeanBlog is a great source of information (including cruise compasses) Your family is going to love it!! Many people were helpful here(Starvenger:) I spent a year planning and it was so worth every minute of the planning!
 


Congratulations on booking. You should enjoy yourselves.

Dining: Where you eat is very much a matter of preference and what type of clothing you want to pack for dinner. The Windjammer is a buffet open for all three meals and typically opens for dinner at 6 pm; it is casual (no swim suits) dress. All of the other restaurants require reservations, the one exception is if you are already assigned a time in the main dining room. They also have dress codes ranging from casual to dressy casual to super dressy (formal night/captains dinner). Some of the speciality restaurants you will be able to book in cruise planner in a few months. When planning dining think about what you might feel like after a day of touring: are you and the kids more likely to want to splash in the pool, take a quick shower, toss on clean clothes and head to a buffet or shower, put on nice clothing and have a table service meal?

Cruise planner: I have a love-hate relationship with it. Shore excursions, drink and internet packages should start showing up shortly. There are typically more than 2 excursions per stop - depending on the itinerary anywhere between 10-16 I find to be the norm. You will also start receiving emails from RCL with discounts for drink, internet and some shore excursions. Do not book your drink packages - if you choose to go that route - without it being on sale. If you know there is something you want to do at one of the stops that is not a listed excursion, reach out to RCL Private Journeys and they can help customize something for you.

Other suggestions:
*There will be an arcade on board. If your kids are into that type of thing find and read the small print regarding charging on their SeaPass card at the arcade. You may not be able to do that until 90 days out though.
*Lay out the rules for the kids charging anything to their SeaPass card - milkshake at Johnny Rockets, cupcake at the cupcake shop, items at the store, etc.
*Start looking for lanyard holders for their SeaPass cards. The card will need to be held in a plastic sleeve attached to the lanyard as I believe that Harmony has card contact door locks instead of swipe door locks.
*Your state room will be tiny with 5 of you in it. If possible have the kids pack in duffle bags instead of suitcases, or make them share a suitcase. This gives you less to store in the closet or room.
*If you receive information about ‘Luggage Valet’, and your airline participates, I strongly suggest paying the fee. The program will take your luggage from the ship to the airport saving you the hassle of having to collect it after disembarking. The program is not offered at all ports.
*The last night your luggage needs to be outside your door by either 10 or 11 pm. Make sure all items that you keep out will meet TSA guidelines.
*Sign everyone up for Crown & Anchor.
*At check in your kids will be given color bracelets that they will need to wear the entire trip. The bracelets are coded with their muster station information on it and are mandatory for all children under a certain age (not sure if it is 11 or 12).
*Every time you get on the ship you will go though security, it is similar to TSA.
*The fewer electronic devices the better, or plan your charging schedule carefully. Depending on the ship I have had only 2 outlets in a stateroom.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info.. we have 2 staterooms booked.. It will be myself, DD10 and DD3 in one room and my DH and DS11 in the other.. we aren't connecting but right across the hall from each other.
 
Congrats on booking your "first" cruise! I did a Harmony cruise last year - review is in my signature if you want to look.


At this point you can probably book drink and spa packages. Dining will show up at some point, and entertainment pops up around 3-5 months before departure. I think they release the schedules in blocks based on the month of departure, so I'd guess you'll see entertainment in March 2019.


I would think that more will be added. CocoCay is doing a renovation, and the pay-to-play waterpark should be up and running by the time you set sail, so definitely more there. With St. Thomas and St. Maarten there's probably business factors at play in addition to hurricane recovery. You can do an online search for 3rd party excursions though - not saying you should book with the 3rd party vendors, but in terms of research it helps to see what's out there.


This is gonna be a wishy-washy answer, but I think it's best to try and keep dinner aligned with your schedule at home. With my kids they tend to get hungry around 5:30-6 so the fixed dining works just fine for me. But others may have kids that like to eat around 7pm, in which case MTD works for them. And some people are coming from the west coast and want to try and maintain that Pacific time, so dinner at 8pm (or later) is perfect.

If you do MTD, make sure you reserve your times online. Without kids I'm sure you could go with the flow, show up and wait for a seat. With kids... well you know.

Thank you for all the info!
 
Congrats on your booking! We've been cruising with our kids for the last ten years and they absolutely love RCL.

On the dining thing - how old are your kids? If on the younger side say under 7, I would go with fixed 5:30. I don't know if they still do it, but RCL used to have a programme where they would serve the kids meals quickly, and then the kids club staff would collect the kids at the entrance to the dining room - leaving the adults to linger over dessert/coffee/wine. If your kids are older, then maybe the MTD might work better. But bear in mind, to get the most out of it, you will still want to schedule your dining times for each day well in advance of your cruise. You can always change them later, if needed.

at the time of cruise I will have an 11 year old..10 year old and 3 year old.. I will have to look into that program for the kids..especially the 3 year old, she likes to be on the go as soon as she is done eating whether we are finished or not lol
 
at the time of cruise I will have an 11 year old..10 year old and 3 year old.. I will have to look into that program for the kids..especially the 3 year old, she likes to be on the go as soon as she is done eating whether we are finished or not lol

It would be great for your 3yo - I think it was called MyFamilyTime Dining.

One other tip - make sure your older two attend the kids club intro on the first evening. Many friendships are formed that first day and it can sometimes be more difficult to slot in if you don't try the kids club until later in the cruise. Of course, it might be less important for them if they like to stick together.
 
Last edited:
We have a cruise booked on Ovation in March 2019 and the only things we can book are port adventures and spa packages. I've heard the rest of the stuff starts appearing anywhere from 3-6 months out, sometimes more, depending on the ship.
 
For my November 2018 Allure cruise, dining reservations and beverage packages showed up about a year in advance. Excursions a couple of months after that.
 
I thought of another question... how does everyone get from the airport to a hotel and then to the ship? We will be flying into MCO and then staying in a hotel near Port Canaveral. Renting a car that's gona sit for a week seems like a waste of money but taking taxis everywhere adds up too so I'm just wondering what everyone else does?
 
Also is it possible that Harmony of the Seas for July 21st 2019 is already starting to fill up?? We are booked and set but I am still trying to convince some other relatives to join us and they are procrastinators. When I go to make a mock reservation it is already saying things like "only 4 of these rooms left" and that is for every type of room I look at.
 
I thought of another question... how does everyone get from the airport to a hotel and then to the ship? We will be flying into MCO and then staying in a hotel near Port Canaveral. Renting a car that's gona sit for a week seems like a waste of money but taking taxis everywhere adds up too so I'm just wondering what everyone else does?
You could do a one way rental to and from the airport to hotel. There are several rental agencies near the port.
 
Agreed with @msjprincess. You could also get a car service but one way rental is the most economical method. Not sure if you can reserve this far out, but I would do it as far in advance as possible (with free cancellation). I try to get the best deal I can, but the key is that you're now free to look for better deals.

And don't forget to book a return one-way.
 
You've probably already booked and thus have selected your dining option, but one thing that I liked with MTD is that you can coordinate all the shows with dinner times....or, maybe I should say the other way around. When we were on Allure 2 years ago, I preferred this since I didn't want to be stuck with late show every night as that would have been rough on my younger one. I pre-booked all dinner times and we never had an issue with waiting (and even ended up with same waiter., same table).

For our cruise next year, we booked traditional dining at early time. Hoping my younger one will handle later shows better.

As for seeing rooms....do a mock booking on the Royal Caribbean UK site. For some reason the US site hides rooms, but the UK site shows you all rooms that are available.
 
I thought of another question... how does everyone get from the airport to a hotel and then to the ship? We will be flying into MCO and then staying in a hotel near Port Canaveral. Renting a car that's gona sit for a week seems like a waste of money but taking taxis everywhere adds up too so I'm just wondering what everyone else does?

I normally book a shuttle service because I don't want to drive. A one way car rental would be best if you are ok with the driving. Otherwise there are a few shuttles to choose from. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to mention here? GoPortCanaveral will do a package of hotel plus shuttles, they have options near the airport and near the port. They also have a shuttle from the airport to the port (and back). Cortrans is another one that will pick you up at the airport or airport hotel and take you to the port and back. And I think it's Coco Beach Shuttle that will pick you up at the airport and take you to hotels near the port, and then back to the airport after the cruise. Cruise Critic has lots of suggestions in their Florida board for reputable companies for shared shuttles and more private options.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top