June 28, 2018
If you missed Part 1 of our trip, follow the link below to check it out:
Our Harmony of the Seas Cruise – Part 1
The second half of our trip was definitely my favorite! From monkeys, a new island (and cause to get behind), invisible menus, amazing dinners, and pool days, we definitely wrapped up the cruise in the BEST way possible!
The final stop of the cruise was to St. Kitts/Nevis. I have never been to St. Kitts and it was one of the main reasons I liked this particular itinerary for the cruise. I always love seeing new islands and had heard how beautiful Nevis was. Our initial plan for St. Kitts was to take a boat ferry to Nevis, go to the Four Seasons and check it out and just tour around. However, we’d had a LOT of boat time the day before in St. Thomas (and some seasickness while on the catamaran) so we re-thought our plan. We decided to just get off the ship and walk around for awhile and see if anything looked exciting to us. Peter, the girls, and myself were pretty happy to walk around for a little bit and then get back onboard for an emptier day at the pool.
Heading off the ship into St. Kitts….
Once we were off the ship, things got interesting….
We heard while we were in St. Thomas that there were many places in St. Kitts to see monkeys. I love a monkey and knew the girls would think it was fun too so we were keeping our eyes out for somewhere to grab lunch and spot some monkeys. We didn’t have to look far! As soon as we got on the island, we were greeted by men holding these cute little monkeys (like the kind that used to take pennies from you at the fair…..tell me I’m not the only one who remembers this) . We quickly realized if you stop for even a second, the monkeys will be placed on your head, arms, etc for a picture op. Being new to the island and the way things worked, we thought it was cute. A man threw (literally threw – more on that in a minute) monkeys on the girls heads and we took pictures. But then the man threw them on my sister, my husband, Brian…..and me. Now I am an animal lover and have always thought the little monkeys are very cute but I immediately got a bad feeling about this and really didn’t like them jumping all over me. All I could think about were fleas and lice (I’m clearly a mom)! The man took them from us and then pretty aggressively told us we all owed him $10 PER PERSON for handling the monkeys. He didn’t seem to be the nicest person and we didn’t know we could bargain with him. So we were out $50 and we’d only been on the island for 5 minutes!!! Peter was NOT happy…..but here are some of the pictures.
You can tell how uncomfortable I am with this situation….
One more thing on these monkeys….they constantly tried to bite everyone. EB said one bit her and I was a little concerned but she assured me they had no teeth. I started watching how this man was treating them and they tried to bite him anytime he came near them. To make money off sucker tourists like us, they have pulled all of the monkeys’ teeth. Knowing that really, really got to me. Again, I love animals and I was downright mad that we had been pressured to give this terrible man who mistreated the monkeys $50! I think I need to start a Save the St. Kitts’ Monkeys fund now.
After such a lovely start to the island, we were pretty uninterested in doing much else so Peter, the girls, and I headed back to the boat. The rest of the group went on an excursion around the island to an old plantation and had lunch and a rum tasting. We had a great day swimming, playing putt putt again, and relaxing before our dinner that night.
The girls’ favorite part of the ship….
After we left St. Kitts we had two days at sea before heading back to Fort Lauderdale. The days at sea are always my favorite and we definitely explored every part of the ship and tried every activity! We played a lot of trivia at the Schooner Bar and Peter and J found Bingo.
She was very unhappy when she didn’t win. She’s slightly competitive….I blame my dad for that trait!
Thursday night we had the dinner we were all looking forward to most – our dinner at Wonderland! Wonderland is one of the specialty dining restaurants onboard and was SUCH a fun experience! The theme is a sophisticated Alice in Wonderland and all of the menu items are like whimsical pieces of art. When you get your menu, it is blank and you are given a paintbrush and “magic paint”. As you make brushstrokes across the paper, the menu appears.
Painting our menus….
The amazing menu! It was SUCH a great meal!!
It was by FAR the best meal we had the entire cruise….and so much fun! I told myself I was going to try everything on the menu, regardless of whether it was something I typically liked or not, and I’m so glad I did! I am not a huge fan of fish but the Branzino was one of the best entrees I’ve ever had! Peter is going to do a full review of all of the restaurants so I’m not going to steal his thunder but if you are ever on the Harmony of the Seas, make it a point to have dinner at Wonderland!
Sweet sisters….
Sweet girl with her daddy after dinner.
The next day was our last day on the ship. It was a beautiful day so we spent the majority of it outside. J and my sister tried out rock climbing wall.
We explored a little more after rock climbing and found a good photo op spot!
B also decided to try out the zipline on the ship. It goes across deck 16, above the Boardwalk. I was glad somebody tried it….but also glad it wasn’t me!
The girls loved getting juice from the robotic bar so we took one more opportunity to all place orders and watch the robotic arms make it. I need a bar like this at my house!
We let the girls grab pizza for dinner and eat in the park while we had a GREAT dinner at Chop’s. We sat outside in Central Park. It was an absolutely beautiful evening and perfect end to an amazing cruise!
I would highly recommend Harmony of the Seas to be added to your list of potential cruise ships! The size of the ship really makes it feel like a floating hotel and if you are sometimes prone to seasickness, you will never know you’re on the ocean on this ship. From ziplines to rockclimbing to iceskating to listening to beautiful live music while you sit among the trees in Central Park, there really is something for everyone on Harmony of the Seas!
