Royal Caribbean informed guests on Harmony of the Seas they are testing a new "intelligent elevator" to improve the guest experience.

Rick Cincotta of Cruise Life Group spotted this new test on the Harmony of the Seas sailing this week.  The test is being tested on, "some of the decks".

Royal Caribbean states the goal of this test is to, "connect you to your destination in a faster and more efficient way."

There are 28 KONE Minispace™ elevators and 14 KONE Monospace® elevators on Harmony of the Seas.

Suites on Royal Caribbean cruise ships are a wonderful way to indulge with extra space and level of service. The Crown Loft Suite stateroom category on Harmony of the Seas blends luxurious split-level accommodations with Sky Class level benefits of the Royal Suite Class.

Photos of this room come to us from stateroom 1728.

Main level - entrance and living room

The sofa can convert to a double bed.

Main level bathroom

A second bath with shower is located on the main level.

Second level

The master bedroom is on the second level and has a Royal King size bed and private bath.

Balcony

The Crown Loft Suite has a private balcony that measures 114 square feet.

Please welcome guest blogger Casey Barnett, who is here to share some observations following his recent cruise on Harmony of the Seas.  Enjoy!

1) Realizing your alcohol consumption on the boat is considered alcoholism IRL.  

2) Having trouble finding a free slice of pizza at 2:30am within walking distance of my place.

3) You say to your local bartender "You mean I need to pay for every drink? You don't understand, I have the drink package."

4) Trying to use your wrist band to open your front door.

5) This Guy Haunts your Dreams

6) Food Court doesn't have a chocolate buffet, WTF!

7) Try to Get your Rumba or Alexa to make you a drink.

8) Why is no one asking me to be in the background of a movie?

9) I can't seem to find Pete Farnsworth Jr. anywhere.

Photo photo credit Taylor Kay Phillips

10) You mean I have to go back to work to pay for another cruise? Can't we just go now.

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is quickly becoming a very popular cruise ship with new cruisers and veteran cruises alike.  There is so much to see and do onboard, and we decided to list the five things about Harmony of the Seas that we think are just so darn cool that they deserve some recognition.

5. Bionic Bar

Robots are at the forefront of so many exciting ideas, and on Harmony of the Seas, guests can enjoy a cocktail made by a robot at the Bionic Bar.

Two robots serve up drinks to guests who order them from nearby tablets.  Pick the drink you like from a list of favorites, or opt to customize something you fancy.  You can even see reviews left by other guests of which drinks they liked best.

After placing the order, the robots go to work and provide real-time updates of the drink progress on a large screen, before sending the drink to you.  Just try and walk by the Bionic Bar and not stop to see the robots doing their thing.

4. Escape the Rubicon

Often people associate certain activities with being on a cruise ship, but the Escape the Rubicon game breaks all those molds.

Escape the Rubicon is an immersive escape room game, where guests work together to solve a series of clues and riddles before time runs out so that they can "escape" the room they are in.

Royal Caribbean teamed up with a leader in the escape room experience to create a dedicated space on Harmony of the Seas where guests can try their best to find all the clues and figure out a way to beat the game before time runs out.

3. Splashaway Bay

Royal Caribbean is a family cruise line, and kids will likely want to spend a lot of time at Harmony of the Seas' incredible aqua park, known as Splashaway Bay.

So what makes Splashaway Bay so cool? This fun spot is full of water slides, water cannons, waterfalls and more.  It is the kind of place kids will never want to leave. The gigantic drench bucket and a multi-platform jungle-gym mean not only will the kids get (and stay) drenched while playing there, they are going to have a great time doing it.

What makes Splashaway Bay special is the fact it is the latest and greatest water play area option in Royal Caribbean's fleet. That makes it one of the best ships if you are cruising with kids.

2. Grease

Guests sailing on Harmony of the Seas are able to see the Broadway musical, Grease, and it is available to enjoy on your cruise with no additional cost.

This stage production of Grease was specially adapted by Royal Caribbean Productions and features all of your favorite songs, such as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Beauty School Dropout” and more.

The best news about Grease on Harmony of the Seas, is that the show is included in the cost of your cruise fare, so you can enjoy a Broadway show while onboard for absolutely no additional cost.

1. Ultimate Abyss slide

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is the world's largest cruise ship and offers the world's tallest slide at sea in the Ultimate Abyss.

Located on the aft of the ship, the Ultimate Abyss is more than 150 feet above sea level and offers side-by-side slides that send guests down 10 decks at a rate of 9 miles per hour.

Guests board the slide by climbing stairs that lead directly into the mouth of a giant angler fish, where they get into a customized mat and then descend down the slide, traversing 216 feet of a multi-sensory tunnel. Guests can reach a speed of 9 miles per hour, and it is the kind of thrill experience unlike anything else at sea.

The Ultimate Abyss is free and available for rides mostly during the day.

There is much more!

We limited ourselves to the top 5 coolest things about Harmony of the Seas for this blog post, but there is so much more that will impress you.

Surf simulators, zip line, incredible restaurants, mini-golf, ice skating, water slides and much more. We cannot fit it all into one blog post but rest assured that a cruise on Harmony of the Seas is certain to impress.

Last year, we ran across Royal Caribbean selling drink floaties onboard its ships and the cruise line seems to have augmented its offerings with a new kind of drink floatie.  Yes, the one we have all been asking for... the swan drink floatie.

On Harmony of the Seas we spotted the swan floatie alongside the usual drink floatie assortment in the Boardwalk gift shop.

Just like the other drink floaties, the swan floatie is an inflatable life preserver for your drink that fit around most beverages or cups.

We really like night photos on Royal Caribbean ships because of how beautiful everything looks lit up with the lights. So it made sense that on our recent Harmony of the Seas cruise, we flexed our photography muscle (which admittedly is not very strong) and took as many night photos as we could find.

Here is our gallery of the better night photos from Harmony of the Seas. Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them!

Do you have a nice nighttime photo from Harmony of the Seas? Feel free to share them in our comments below!

Royal Caribbean recently added a second escape room experience to Harmony of the Seas (as well as some other ships in the fleet), called A Royal Mystery.

Royal Mystery is an onboard activity offered to guests, where they must solve a series of puzzles based on clues hidden throughout the room to help solve a whodunit murder case.  Unlike Escape the Rubicon, Royal Mystery has no cover charge and is held in a public spot (for our game, it was in the On Air Lounge).

Guests participating have a set amount of time to comb over the details provided, as well as clues and puzzles they will discover until they can solve the case.  

What to expect

If you are unfamiliar with an escape room game, essentially it is a timed challenge, where you and those in your group have a set time limit to figure out various puzzles and clues to solve an overall solution that provides the means of "escaping" the room. Royal Mystery was created by Royal Caribbean's partner company, Puzzle Break.

When you arrive, the crew members will instruct everyone in attendance to form teams.  Teams can be between two and six people in total, which often results in teaming up with your fellow guests. Afterwards, a crew member will explain the basics of the game, play a short video introduction and provide the opening clues for all teams. 

Once the game begins, all teams must work to solve the puzzles in order to figure out who the murderer is, with the first team that comes up with the correct answer being the winner.

The puzzle

When you start out, your team will receive a packet full of information.  Some of this information includes puzzles, biographies on all the suspects, and pieces to puzzles that will be important later.  Teams must review the information in their possession, and then try to solve the various puzzles. Once a team has a possible puzzle solution, they bring it to the crew member for review.  If correct, the crew member provides a new clue for the team to use.

During the course of the game, crew members will share tips, advice and hints with all teams.  Most of these hints are suggestions or manners in which to investigate that aim to narrow down possibilities for teams.

The key to success is for teams to work together, but also delegate the various work.  Some puzzles can be solved by one or two team members, while others may need the whole team's input. Clues are hidden throughout the room, which team members may not take with them, but they can take pictures.  Bringing a phone that can take pictures is a good strategy.

Cost: Complimentary

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas has a lot to offer, including a number of staterooms.  Today, we will look at the category 2J Central Park View Balcony Stateroom, which will take you through the cabin to provide an idea of what to expect if you book this category stateroom.

On Harmony of the Seas, we reviewed stateroom 12629, which is located on Deck 12 nearly in the middle of the deck.  The room was very convenient since it was roughly equidistant to both elevator banks.

Entry to the room is by RFID scanner, which is above the door handle.

Like all staterooms on Harmony of the Seas, the light controls require a SeaPass card to be inserted into a slot near the entrance.

The decorations you see hanging from the ceiling and around the room are not a standard amenity to staterooms on Harmony of the Seas. They are an optional decoration package that you can purchase to celebrate a special event.

The bed is joined together but can be split apart if need be. There's a large, flat screen television across from it and two night stands on opposite sides of the bed. Access to the balcony is also on the other side of the bed.

The room also has a rather large sofa to sit on during the day.

The best feature of this stateroom is the extra large balcony, which provides a private space to enjoy the view of Central Park.  This balcony is roughly double that of a standard Central Park balcony room, but does not cost any more than any other Central Park room.  It is a bit of a secret among Royal Caribbean fans, and something we have shared on the blog before.

A 2J stateroom features a full bathroom, including a stand up shower.

Along the jogging deck on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas are two lesser-known areas for guests to sit back, and enjoy the view of the ocean from the comfort of a lounge chair.

Many guests may know that on the aft of Oasis Class ships are lounge chairs to enjoy the view of the wake, but on Harmony of the Seas there is a small seating area on both sides of the forward section on deck 5 of the ship to relax in.

These areas do not have a name mentioned to reference them, but they are just off the running track on both sides.  Some runners choose to use these areas as a break point, while others simply bring their coffee or book to enjoy the view.

This area is open to all guests, and can be a secluded spot on Harmony of the Seas to get away from lots of other guests.