Our final day on Harmony of the Seas is a sea day, although it is not a typical sea day in the sense we are not going to purely at sea.
Captain Johnny made an announcement that we would head over to Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's newly revamped private island, for a test docking. Essentially, since no Oasis Class ships have docked at the island's new pier before, they needed to test it out prior to regularly scheduled sailings going there. Earlier this week, Harmony tested one side of the pier and today we would be testing out the other side.
While we would not be disembarking, it would give everyone on Harmony of the Seas a fantastic up close view of the great lengths Royal Caribbean has gone to revitalize the island.
Right around 9am we started approaching the island and beginning the docking procedure.
Once the ship got close enough to the island, Harmony spun around 180 degrees to back into her docking position.
The parking job was quick and we were docked alongside Navigator of the Seas for around 30 minutes or so, before Captain Johnny turned the thrusters back on to head out.
The island looks amazing, and I cannot wait to see everything that has been added. Luckily for me, I will not have to wait very long for that pleasure.
My kids opted to sleep through the island visit, so we got them up and moving and enjoyed one last breakfast at Park Cafe.
Next up my oldest daughter tried out the Ultimate Abyss. She survived and said there was lots of noises, lights and it was faster than she thought it would be.
After that, the kids took a quick ride on the carousel.
Before lunch, there was a parade on the Royal Promeande and the Adventure Ocean staff selected my oldest daughter to be part of the parade as cupcakes in the Happy Birthday section of the parade.
Lunch was enjoyed in the Windjammer. The pasta station at the back became our go-to spot.
Our afternoon consisted of mostly bar hopping and a quick nap. Typical sea day activities that do not make for exciting live blogs, but are quite enjoyable nonetheless.
We reserved dinner at Izumi for hibachi, which is a family favorite on any Royal Caribbean ship that offers it.
The meal was wonderful and our chef did a great job. Unfortunately we ran into a billing issue, which was partially our fault and partially the system's fault. If you want to dine with kids at hibachi, I recommend paying adult price in advance to lock in spots because hibachi sells out so quickly.
What is supposed to happen is once at the meal, the staff should only charge the kids $10 and the rest of the pre-paid amount refunded as onboard credit. The lesson to be learned is when you check-in, inform the staff of the kids and the fact you pre-paid so that the billing can be fixed while you dine. Not a major problem, just took some time to rectify it.
We spent the rest of our evening having one last round of drinks with friends around the ship.
Harmony proved to be a very fun weekend cruise and just the kind of escape that we wanted. In fact, being able to get back on Harmony of the Seas and enjoy the kind of experiences that made her my favorite ship in the first place was a real treat.
I will be sure to share more thoughts on my cruise in this week's podcast episode.
Thanks for following the live blog and the great comments. Our next live blog kicks off this Friday, as we head over to Navigator of the Seas.
