While Royal Caribbean likes to talk about their amazing specialty restaurants (and they are pretty amazing), there are also some really great free food options on board the Harmony of the Seas.
Because who doesn’t love free food?
Windjammer Buffet
Of course, we have to start with the obvious choice for free food on board the Harmony of the Seas and any other Royal Caribbean Cruise ship. The Windjammer is the name for the buffet on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. It is the casual staple for dining on board Royal Caribbean. The Windjammers hour can depend slightly on port hours or if it is a sea day, but in general it is open from 7:00-11:00 for breakfast. After a quick break to reset, the Windjammer is open again from 11:30-3:00 for lunch and then 6:00-9:00 for dinner. The long hours are a plus for the Windjammer!
The Harmony of the Seas has switched to hand washing stations instead of the hand sanitizer. (But don’t worry, they still say “Washy-washy”!) After making it through the handwashing station, there is usually a salad station up front then a couple of other stations in addition to the grill, the pasta stations and the desserts.
It’s buffet food so it can be hit or miss. But take a look around, including in the back before you make your decision for the day.
Main Dining Room
The main dining room is open for three meals a day on sea days and breakfast and dinner on port days.
Breakfast in the main dining room is a great way to start your day if you are not in a hurry. They have a full breakfast menu including made to order omelets and eggs, eggs benedict and breakfast bowls. Don’t forget: you can ask for as much food as you want and yes they have donuts!
Main dining room lunch is offered on sea days. It is typically from 11:30-1:00 is typically a paired down version of the dinner menu. It changes slightly from day to day with some staples staying the same each day.
Dinner is where the main dining room really shines on Royal Caribbean. They have some excellent options for dinner. Make sure you try the escargot at least once – it’s amazing! Always remember – when in doubt, just order both!
Park Café
On the older Royal Caribbean ships, Park Cafe was located in/near the Solarium. On the Oasis class ships, Park Cafe has moved to central park (deck 8 on the Harmony). This makes it a super convenient place to stop in for a quick breakfast, lunch or snack.
For breakfast they have some grab and go yogurts and fruits, a small selection of breakfast sandwiches, and a bagel bar. At the bagel bar you choose from a few different types of bagels then ask for the cream cheese, salmon, or other toppings you want. They also have a small selection of pastries. They are typically open around 6:30-10:30 for breakfast.
For lunch Park Cafe has the old standby of roast beef sandwiches. They still have a salad bar, where the crew will make and liberally dress your salad for you. They have sandwiches and lays potato chips. Again, it really is very similar to what you would find in the Park Cafe on older Royal Caribbean ships, just with a new updated location. They are open for lunch all afternoon, from around noon until 5:00.
Mini Bites
Located by the sports deck (and the soft serve machines) on deck 15 is mini bites. This was one of my favorite places to grab a quick snack on board. Mini bites has open air seating on the side of the ship so it is a great place to enjoy the view or the weather. Or to grab a snack when you’re soaking wet from the pool!
In the morning Mini Bites has a very paired down breakfast menu from around 8:30-11:00. This includes some pastries, fruit and other quick breakfast items.
For lunch / afternoon snacks they have a nacho bar, quesadillas, pre-made sandwiches, hot dogs and hamburgers and some fruit. Lunch/snacks is open pretty much all afternoon from around 12:30-5:30.
There is also a freestyle coke machine, water and coffee at Mini Bites.
Solarium Bistro
Honestly, we never made it to eat in the Solarium Bistro on our last Harmony of the Seas cruise. It was just too far away from anything else we were doing and there were too many other places to try. Without a pool in the Solarium, we really just didn’t spend as much time there as we normally do and so we just never made the Solarium Bistro a priority.
My understanding is that the Solarium Bistro has a pared down menu that mirrors the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch (with also slightly pared down hours of about three hours for breakfast and two hours for lunch, though they weren’t open for lunch on the Coco Cay day). At dinner, they offered Mediterranean cuisine every night and if we hadn’t booked speciality dining, we would have tried it for dinner one night.
Being slightly out of the way, this is probably the quietest complementary food venue on the Harmony of the Seas.
Boardwalk Dog House
Open all afternoon (ok 11:30-5:30), the Dog House is a great place to stop for a quick bite.
They offered around three different flavors and types of hot dogs daily and they did change throughout the cruise.
Located on the Boardwalk on deck 6, this is a great stop for a quick snack on the way back from an excursion!
Sorrento’s
The classic pizza place is located along the main promenade on deck 5 on the Harmony of the Seas. It offers classic pizza fare from 11:00am-3:00am.
Pizza is a requirement for us at least once in a cruise and Sorrento’s does not disappoint. They have a pretty large seating area, where you can snack on your pizza and watch the crowds and activities on the promenade!
Breakfast at Johnny Rockets
This is my best and favorite tip about free food on the Harmony of the Seas.
Johnny Rockets is a specialty dining restaurant, but breakfast is complementary…and excellent! They have breakfast sandwiches, made to order eggs, pastries (you have to ask), pancakes and French toast. The menu is small – it’s not a whole buffet or a huge menu like the main dining room. But the food is hot, cooked to order and brought straight out instead of dragged from the kitchens to somewhere else.
Read more Harmony of the Seas Tips here.
They are open generally 8:00-9:30 and are a must-do for breakfast on board the Harmony of the Seas!
Food is an important part of the cruise experience and something that Royal Caribbean does very well. Their food is consistently good from the Windjammer, to Park Café to the main dining room. Most of the food choices are free on the Harmony of the Seas, but the ship is so huge you need a plan to make sure you hit them all!
My most important tip is to try all of your food options early so you know what you like and what you want to repeat on the last days of your cruise.
What to read next:
Planning a future cruise? Read about Why You Should Take A Caribbean Cruise In The Winter
Planning to cruise soon? Read about Why this is a great year to cruise!
Trying to decide on a cruise line? Or just want a quick comparison to a previous cruise? Check out Royal vs Carnival!
