Harmony of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas

For our 2nd anniversary, my husband and I decided to take our 1st cruise together! We’ve both cruised before, but for both of us it was as teenagers, with our families, and at least 14 years ago, so this was also our 1st cruise as adults and also kinda felt like a 1st cruise in a lot of ways.

We sailed on the beautiful Harmony of the Seas, which is part of Royal Caribbeans Oasis Class, and is the 2nd largest cruise ship in the world. It’s a whopping 2 inches larger than the Oasis of the Seas and 2 inches smaller than the Symphony of the Seas.

When I cruised with my family several years ago, my parents sprang for a room with a window (larger than a porthole) because my mom is claustrophobic and the thought of a tiny porthole or no window at all was unfathomable. I am not claustrophobic, but I sort-of felt like I was on that trip, and I decided then that I wouldn’t cruise again until I could justify the cost of a room with a balcony. I am so glad I did!

The ship has 17 decks, with a few specific ones work noting:

Deck 5 is home to the Royal Promenade, which is entirely indoors and home to bars, restaurants, shops, my morning coffee, and the lower level of the Rising Tide bar, a bar that moves from deck 5 to deck 8.

Deck 6 is home to the Boardwalk, which features a carousel, aqua theater, carnival games, and (hubby’s favorite) hot dog stand, and the base of The Abyss, the huge slide that starts in an Angler Fish’s mouth and goes down 10 levels.

Deck 8 is home to Central Park, which is open all the way to the top of the ship, and features several restaurants, wine bar, and is the top level of the Rising Tide bar.

Deck 16, which basically feels like the top of the world, is home to lots of sun, water slides, zipline, mini golf, flowrider, and The Abyss.

Deck 15 & 16, at the very front of the ship, are also home to the Solarium, which features a restaurant, hot tubs, and the top level features an adults only area with tons of lounge chairs (many of which are in the shade – yay!) and a bar.

Our stateroom was on deck 7, starboard, and the staircase just outside our room was perfectly placed between everything we wanted to do on decks 5, 6, and 8. The Boardwalk stretched just further aft from that staircase, while both the Royal Promenade and Central Park both started from that staircase and stretched forward.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for posts about the different ports we visited!

Have you ever cruised? Tell me your favorite ship/cruise line in the comments!