Cruise Day 1
We left the house around 8:30am. We stopped at Starbucks then stopped at Walgreens for something. I don't remember what. While we were there I realized I forgot to pack our snorkeling gear
We were 5 minutes from my house so we went back and got it. We still made it to Port Canaveral by 10am. We were the only ship in port so there was no traffic. Dropping off our bags with the porters and parking the car was fast and easy. By this time we had lots of glimpses of the ship. Holy cow it was huge!!! We went to get ourselves checked in and it was a hot mess. Traveling with my autistic son can have it's challenges so as usual I contacted the Special Needs Department for embarkation/debarkation help. I received an email back that we would get priority boarding and an alternate location to wait to board as well as assistance getting off the ship when we return to port. I would have to go to guest services once onboard to arrange for an alternate muster drill location. We arrive to check in and they won't let us in the special assistance line! They said since we didn't have a wheelchair or
scooter that we had to use the regular line and let the person checking us in that we need assistance. So we go through the regular line which was super short and go to check in and I tell the woman we need assistance. She said we should have gone through the special assistance line. No kidding lady. They have no idea what to do with us and feel bad so they put us into the suite waiting area. We sat for maybe 5 minutes before they announced that our area could board. We were on the ship by 10:45am. I've never been on a ship that early!
Our cruise was on Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas. I've never been on a ship this size before. I think she can carry around 6500 passengers??? There are two flow riders (surf, bodyboard simulators), a zip line, a giant slide that takes you down 9 decks, a sports court, mini golf, 3 swimming pool plus an additional pool in the adult area, an ice skating rink and a casino. There was also a Boardwalk area of the ship with a carousel and another area called Central Park with lots of gardens and trees. Lots and lots of bars and upcharge restaurants too.
We boarded the ship on the Promenade deck. This is one of the main areas of the ship with shopping, bars, food, guest services, etc. We were on the ship so early we didn't know what to do with ourselves! Our room wouldn't be ready until 1:30pm so explored for a bit then found the buffet area and had lunch. After lunch we found the soft serve ice cream then went to the teen club and got their wristbands. We explored the pool areas, ice rink and showed Eliana what a casino was. She wasn't impressed LOL!!! It was almost 1:30pm so we headed towards our room and our luggage had already been delivered! Wow was the room teeny tiny. I've been on Royal Caribbean many times and this was by far the tiniest cabin I have ever had and there is very little storage for four people. There was very little space between the end of the bed and the wall. We had a balcony and at least that was spacious with two chairs, ottomans and a table. The room had a sofa like Disney where the back folds down to become a bed. There was a trundle bed underneath it. However, once the trundle was pulled out you couldn't use the desk, bureau, fridge or access the balcony without walking on the bed to get to the door. There was also no privacy curtain between the bed and the sofa so if someone was trying to sleep either they had to deal with a light on or the rest of us had to sit in the dark. It was a very poor design. I completely forgot to take pictures of our room!!! I stole this one off the interwebz. The photographer was very good. The room appears larger in this photo than it really is.
We unpacked and I brought the kids to the zipline before we had to attend the muster drill. After ziplining Eliana went down the giant slide and I met her at the bottom. I couldn't slide because I was wearing a tank top. She took a ride on the carousel then checked out one of the arcades.
Rob and I went to Starbucks before the muster drill then checked out the spa & fitness center. Our muster station code was available in our cruise docs. I found a list on Cruise Critic for Harmony muster stations and saw that ours was in one of the dining rooms. Because of this I didn't request an alternate muster for Nick. We showed up and had the longest muster drill ever. They went through the emergency protocols then we had to watch a movie about the safety. It was really draaaaaggggged out.
We watched the sail away from our cabin balcony.
Since we booked so late all we had left to choose for dining was 5pm or My Time Dining where you make a reservation for each night or show up and hope they can seat you. 5pm is way too early to eat, IMO, but we prefer having the same table every night with the same wait staff. We went to dinner and were seated at a table for four by a window. I had emailed dining services with this request and it was granted. We are not chit chat with strangers at dinner type of people. I ordered Escargot for an appetizer and Salmon as my main course. The salmon was fishy and bone dry. I ordered the Pear and Blueberry Cobbler for dessert. It was bad too. It was served cold with a scoop of ice cream. It was bland and dry. Even the ice cream texture was off. Service was very fast and we were finished before 6pm.
Rob and I went back to the room to rest before that evening's show and the kids went off to the teen club. Eliana met us at the ice skating show. On Harmony you have to book all your shows in advance and I really didn't like that. Tonight was the ice skating show 1887. It was bizarre and none of us were enjoying it. It made no sense and was just odd. I've never walked out on a show before, but we left after 20 minutes. Eliana went back to the teen club while Rob and I walked around. I was still hungry so I grabbed some pizza to munch on and went back to the room. Eliana and Nick were there. They didn't like the teen club and said it was so much better on Disney. They said there was nothing to do and they were bored
We were all tired so it was an early night for us. Rob wanted to be at the fitness center when it opened at 6am the next day.
Up Next....Perfect Day at CocoCay