Do you know whats in your neighbourhood?

Since my last blog about the preview cruises I took on board the Harmony of the Seas, it seems Royal Caribbean have received many complaints as well as listened to feedback and have issued everyone who sailed on the 4 night mini cruise, 50% off the cruise fare paid, back in the form of a future cruise certificate, and those on the 3 night sailing 25% off the cruise fare paid. This is clever thinking from Royal Caribbean as they are looking like they have listened and saying sorry by giving some money back, but also clever that you have to book another cruise with them and so spending more money with them.

As mentioned in my last blog the Harmony of the Seas has 7 neighbourhoods within the huge expanse of the ship and these are as follows:

Central Park: Central Park is a where you will find restaurants such as chops grille, Jamie’s Italian, central 150, park cafe, vintages wine bar. Within the park is 12,000 plants and trees, there is also some of the top end shops (which I managed to stay well out of). This was also when some of the meet and greet with the DreamWorks characters took place. My cabin was a Central Park Balcony and I thought this was a great location to people watch but also to relax.

Boardwalk: On the Boardwalk is where you will find Starbucks, Johnny Rockets, Saber – the Tequila and Mexican bar/restaurant, and the Doghouse. You will also find the carousel, the aqua theatre, a couple of shops such as the logo shop for all your Royal Caribbean goodies, and a sunglasses/designer beachwear shop. The boardwalk is also where you finish up from the Ultimate Abyss. Again you can have balcony cabins overlooking the Boardwalk but I thought this would be noisy throughout the day, as well as into the evening when the Aqua Theatre shows are on. Although the cabins are soundproofed once the balcony door is shut, it’s not somewhere I think you could sit out and relax on your balcony.

Royal Promenade: No Royal Caribbean ship is complete without the famous Royal promenade. Walking through here you have Sorrento’s which serves free pizza until 3pm, there is Boleros, On Air and the pub for drinks, shops, Cafe Promenade for Coffee and cakes, and not forgetting the car that is always found down the royal promenade.

Entertainment Place: On deck 4 this is where you will find the huge Casino (which does allow smoking one side), Studio B for the ice skating shows, the Theatre to watch the musical Grease, Jazz on 4 bar, and also the Attic which for my sailing was a comedy club.

Pool and Sports zone: This is fairly obvious and apart from the pools includes the water slides, Ultimate Abyss, Zip Wire, Mini golf course, Rock Climbing wall, and the flow riders

Vitality Sports and Fitness: So again fairly obvious this is the Gym and Spa area on board.

Youth Zone: Royal Caribbean’s award winning Adventure Ocean area – with rooms for each kids/teen club. The kids have their own theatre, an arts and crafts room, science lab, and lounge area to meet up and make new friends.

So overall this ship has something for everyone and despite the weather and the ship being incomplete it was fantastic to see. However I am not sure if this is the ship/class for me. As i said in my last blog on the four night cruise I felt it had the right amount of people on there then – but we had only approx. 3700 and this ship holds nearly 6500 so I would hate to see what it’s like when it is at full capacity.

Have a good couple of weeks

Kerry

xx