After our 4th night on Harmony of the Seas it was finally time to get off. The ship docked at Southampton just after 6:00 this morning and everything outside seemed eerily quiet. The monster had returned!!
We had elected to carry our own luggage off which meant we had to be off between 6:30 & 7:30 but I can’t imagine anyone saying you have to stay on if you were any later than that. Previous experience is they a glad to get rid of you so just want you off whatever it takes.
Regardless of that our plan was to get up and go grab a coffee and a quick bite from the Park Cafe and do what we did yesterday which was consume it in Dazzles. The Cruise Compass said that Park Cafe in Central Park on deck 8 would be open at 6:00 but when we arrived at 6:20 we found people waiting outside who had been told that it didn’t actually open until 6:30. So with 10 minutes to spare we went for a stroll down to deck 5 and walked through the Royal Promenade stopping for a last few photos along the way.
When we got back it was open so we grabbed the bits we wanted and took them as planned to Dazzles where we enjoyed them in the peace and quiet with a great view over the Boardwalk.
With breakfast taken we went back to cabin picked up the luggage and made our way to the elevators to go down to Deck 3 to disembark. We were off and in the car very quickly and arrived home before 10:00am.
It was great to have the opportunity to try out this class of ship but it did confirm our reservations which were that it would be too big. The ship is a masterpiece of engineering but because of its size, for us it lacks soul and it all feels very impersonal. I have read this morning that RCI have ordered a 5th ship in this class which concerns me a bit. The current approach is to build these brutes and I hope at some point this trend will burn itself out. Cruise lines at the moment seem to be building either big or small and nobody we like to cruise with seems to be building the size of ship we enjoy any more. We do love a new ship but wonder if we will ever get the chance to try one out again.
We enjoyed Harmony and were fortunate to have the chance to try her out but its not something we will be in a hurry to repeat.
Finally, I have added today’s photos along with others not previously uploaded to the Flickr Album which you will find >>>Here<<<