Cruising with Kids on Harmony of the Seas is a fantastic experience. This article was one of our very first posts on Modern Life is Good. We have updated the article with new photographs and extra information. We sailed on Harmony of the Seas July 2016. The majority of facilities will also be available on the new Symphony of the Seas launching in 2018.
It could be said that a good vacation with kids is when they don’t want to be with you. This is certainly the case on Harmony of The Seas where we saw little of our 2 offspring. Instead, we spent time on this vacation enjoying the child free solarium. We travelled with our 2 children aged 5 & 12 who both loved the various clubs and activities on board the Harmony of the Seas. Harmony of the Seas is the largest Cruise Ship in the World and was launched in 2016. Our trip was several months after her maiden voyage.
Royal Caribbean has dedicated age-specific activities for children throughout the day. Their clubs come under the brand name Adventure Ocean which is split into Aquanauts(3-5), Explorers(6-8), Voyagers(9-11). Activities include circus skills, pirates party & science experiments. Although we did not use; there is also supervised children dinners. Activities run throughout the day when ships are in ports but there are short breaks on sea days.
We had used Adventure Ocean on several previous occasions and find the facilities offered by Royal Caribbean outstanding it did not disappoint on board the largest cruise ship at sea.
In addition for children under 3, there is a nursery. The nursery has to be pre-booked and does have a small extra charge. Although we did not use the nursery on this trip we have in the past and found it to be excellent. Not all Royal Caribbean Ships have a nursery so do check before booking.
Teens and Tweens have their own dedicated areas away from the younger kids with their own activity programme. Activities include quizzes, exclusive use of the ice rink & pool parties. Our 12-year-old daughter loved the independence the teen facilities provide.
If you can drag them away from clubs to spend time with you there are loads of additional activities that the family can enjoy. Exclusive to Oasis Class ships on the Boardwalk are play areas & a carousel.
On pool decks, there is the new Splashaway Bay water park. Splashaway Bay is an upgrade on the H2O zone found on older ships. For older kids, there are also 3 large water slides which as yet are not found on other Oasis Class ships. Free ice-cream is also available on the pool decks.
Additional activities the adventurous family can enjoy include the Flow Rider, ice-skating & rock climbing. More sedate activities include the Harmony of The Seas Crazy Gold course.
Many of the entertainment activities also appeal to children including the Royal Promenade parade, Columbus the Musical & the diving shows. There is also a dedicated family theatre in Adventure Ocean where family movies, talent shows and an exclusive puppet show are performed.
Dining on Royal Caribbean with kids is always great. Waiters are friendly and there were dedicated children menus in the dining rooms. When dining kids probably get spoilt more than the grown ups & often get extra unexpected treats.
The Dreamworks Experience is available on this ship with regular appearances by characters such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Puss In Boots. There is also a character breakfast which does come at an extra charge for adults and needs to be booked in advance.
The one area we feel Royal Caribbean do need to develop is the excursions offered to families. We sailed from Barcelona and there are limited excursions suitable for younger children. They could also work out very expensive with only a small discount for children and only to those under 12.
Perhaps the greatest sign that the trip was a success was our youngest child cried as she left the ship as did not want to go home. Certainly a successful family vacation.
Cruising with kids on Harmony of the Seas is certainly something to consider.
Read More
Read our experience of Jewel of the Seas with Kids
Our reasons why we think cruising is a great family vacation
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