Harmony appears to be not so harmonious after all………. or is it?

……so initial feedback seems to imply although a number of my colleagues were on board last weekend and they appear to have had a blast with no complaints so I am not entirely sure what to make of these reports which are flying around today. Is it just the Media having a quiet news day – what, no reports about the EU Referendum?

Last weekend was the Agents launch on board Harmony and during the week there have been a couple of three/four night pre-inaugural sailings out of Southampton. It is quite the norm for cruise lines to release a maiden sailing for a ship, everyone goes mad for it and books then the cruise line releases and inaugural sailing which quite often is followed by the launch of a pre-inaugural sailing – maybe they realise that the ship is going to be ready sooner than they thought so they decide to squeeze a bit more revenue out of her. Or is this planned all along?

Anyway, those in the know are fully aware that these are really ‘shakedown cruises’ ahead of the maiden voyage, just making sure that everything is operating as it should, and to be fair everything is normally fine, however, reports coming back from Harmony (via the media!) are not positive to say the least.  Harmony had been branded a ‘serious risk to all passengers’ by one online publication, with many attractions closed, debris floating in the kids pool and the noise of constant drilling with workers trying to bring the ship up to spec.

If these reports are to be believed then the ship just wasn’t ready to take passengers and RCCL should have held their hands up and cancelled these pre-inaugural voyages. This is not what we have come to expect from Royal Caribbean, or any other cruise line for that matter. A ship should be fully functioning and more importantly safe before fare paying passengers are taken on board.

There has been so much hype about the launch of this mega cruise ship, and the fact that UK passengers were going to be able to experience her before she headed off to the Med for the summer season and then on to the Caribbean. It would appear that UK passengers have been used as guinea pigs and got the short straw if reports are to be believed, and if they turn out to be true then shame on you Royal Caribbean!

For now though I am reserving judgement until I have spoken to my clients when they return home and also my colleagues who have spent a few extra days on board. Watch this space, I will let you know the real facts once they emerge. I sincerely hope that this is just the media blowing everything out of all proportion – let’s face it, it has been known hasn’t it!

If anyone reading this has been on board, please give me any feedback you have.

My two colleagues above seem to be having a good time don’t they!

Happy Cruising Folks!