The best day of my life (until next cruise) had finally arrived embarkation day! 6:30 am the hotel, and my phone, the alarm clock rang and up I jumped! January 28th the day I board the largest and most innovative cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, is here and there is no time to be spent sleeping in. After getting ready in what seemed like 2.5 seconds, I calmly ( NOT) walked downstairs to enjoy my last meal on land for 7 days. After roaming through the breakfast Buffett offered, for a fee, at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Airport/ Cruise port I grabbed some fruit and a yogurt to hold me over for the next few hours while I impatiently wait to board the Harmony.
10:30 a.m. finally came around, the last luggage is loaded into the shuttle and off we went, like a very slow rocket. Conveniently my family and I were able to book a private shuttle because there was 12 of us. $16 dollars round trip, a private shuttle and being able to leave whenever you wanted was absolutely amazing! If you find yourself having to go to the port at a time you do not want and do not have enough people for the hotel to offer a private shuttle call an Uber and spend $8- $15 to get to the ship at your convenience. The very short 5-minute drive from the hotel to Port Everglades took, what seemed like, forever but finally there she was in all her beauty, the Harmony of the Seas.
Dwarfing everything around her the stunning Harmony of the Seas appeared out of nowhere. As the shuttle zoomed toward the ship my excitement just became unbearable. Finally, we were walking through the front door of the terminal and after a very quick check in we were upstairs and waiting for embarkation to begin. Once we made it upstairs to the terminal, confusion was the common theme amongst both the guest and employees at the port. At 11 am we were finally sitting down in the Diamond area of the terminal when suddenly at 11:15 the announcement was made " We are happy to welcome our Diamond members on board" I jumped up faster than I ever have before and finally I was on the gangway. I stepped onto the ship and entered by the forward promenade. After purchasing my RIFD wristband for 5 dollars it was time to eat lunch but instead of battling our way through the Windjammer we decided to have a slice of pizza at Sorrentos.
After a quick lunch, we made our way over to the Vitality Spa to look at the massage options. After deciding on a Deep tissue massage for about $149.00 after the Diamond member discount, we took a tour of the Thermal Suite. Once we saw the Sauna and steam room we contemplated purchasing the week pass to the spa but once we laid on the hot stone beds our mind was made up. For $214.00 we had full access to the thermal suite and we received a body scrub of our choice.
As we explored the ship we came across the Sabor Tequila Bar and enjoyed an Avocado Margarita! Just like that, it was 1 pm and we made our way up to our stateroom. We made our way to our home for the week, Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom with Balcony number 14210! Our luggage had already made its way to our room and we were able to unpack and get back to enjoying our first day!
3:30 we made our way down to our muster station in Studio B (the ice rink). After a brief 30 minutes, we were able to sprint up the 12 decks to watch us sail away! Seeing it was a tad windy up on deck 16 we were able to get a spot right up against the railing and we all know how difficult that is to get! With a drink in our hand and our sunglasses on, we sailed into the night!
After a great day, it was quickly time for dinner. We made our way down for our 7:30 My time dining reservations on deck 5 in Silk dining room and that was less than enjoyable. After waiting roughly 45 minutes after our reservation we finally sat down at our table. Both our waiter and assistant waiter were very efficient and extremely nice but our Bar server left a horrible impression on us. After we enjoyed our appetizers we quickly realized that the specialty dining package would have been well worth it. The main dining room onboard Harmony severed by far the worst main dining room food I have ever had onboard a Royal ship but we still enjoyed our overall atmosphere at dinner.
With such a fun filled day our exhaustion got the best of us and after one drink in the Boot and Bonnet Pub, we made our way up to our room to relax on our balcony and then turn in so we could enjoy our first full sea day to the fullest!
Stay tuned for day three review!
Click here for our Day 1 Review
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