TNphilp

That is the Suite we had on Allure in January, you will love it, the balcony is huge, you look off the side instead of the back where 1720 looks (Looking at the sport court).
Some old documents still call it a Sky loft suite, newer documents call it Star Loft suite. TL is the correct code for Star Loft.

@TNphilp , you and I have chatted before here on the blog, pretty sure you are an over planner like I am, sailing Star Class was the hardest thing for me to do because I had to turn loose with all of the planning and turn it over to someone who at the time I had no idea what their qualifications were. With that said, turn loose and enjoy.
You should get an email from Royal Genie Services, this is a Web based questionnaire, most of us on here are not really sure how much they use this information other than for the Genie to reference during your cruise, so enter the stuff about you and your traveling mates but not a lot of detail of what you might want. I received mine almost exactly 60 days out.
Between 2-3 weeks out you will get an email directly from your Genie, in your reply too the Genie is where you get specific with what you want, like:
Where you want to eat, but not when (Unless you have something you are specifically celebrating and you have a Restaurant in mind, date and time)
What shows you want to see, but not when.
Specific types of drinks you might want in the room, snack in the room etc..
Planning shows and dinner times are the Genies sweet spot, so turn loose and let them use their experience and guide you trough your cruise (This was the hard part for me). When you meet up with your Genie at the Star Class check in lounge area they will go over all of this with you and anything you don't like they will change for you.
I'm not sure of the Star Class boarding in Port Canaveral but Star Class should have a dedicated kiosk to check in with, keep you luggage with you, do not give it to a regular porter, they have special porters for Star Class that will take your luggage. You should be escorted on the ship and directly to your room if you request and you can drop off your carry on luggage, then they should take you to a restaurant of your choice for lunch and come up with a plan for meeting back in your room to go over even more detail of your cruise. The Genies have other guest to escort on the ship so taking you to lunch and scheduling a time to meet gives them time to get the other Star Class guest on the ship. When I did my online check in it scheduled me to be there at 11, I showed up at 10:15 with no issues.
I'll add more as I think of it. 

I'm guessing @TNphilp meant Star Loft.  They are easily confused, especially if you booked really far out.  They just re-categorized these rooms not too long ago.

Suggest you read and follow this live blog in progress from @Lovetocruise2002.
 

Day 3 - Labadee
 
We got up just in time to make the breakfast at the Coastal Kitchen.  I love b'fast at CK.  It's quiet, beautiful view, good service, real eggs (!).
 
Reyno met us somewhere (can't remember where) and escorted us off the ship with another couple.  I don't know why I dread the walk off the ship into Labadee sooo much.  It's no longer than many other docks but for some reason THAT walk just wears me out.  I WISH that they would bring the limo (that's what they call the little golf cart that takes you to Barefoot Beach) up to the ship.  ...but of course, they do not.  So we sprinted (I have mentioned this before.  When you're traveling with Reyno, be prepared to proceed at a forced march pace).  To make matters worse (for my old and fat ass, anyway) there were no limos waiting at the limo hub so Reyno just kept marching.  So not only did I have to trek down the dreaded Labadee pier but we had to march ALL the way to Barefoot Beach.  I tried hard not to let my annoyance show.  Dan knew...he just looked away and wouldn't look me in the face.  It was humorous, in a sad way.
 
So once at the "gates" of Barefoot Beach, you are assigned a cabana boy (YES, cabana boys do exist !  Of course, these are really cabana men but close enough, right ?).  They put a wrist band on you - the kind you get when you go to the hospital.  Not sure what this signifies, to be honest.  Just that you're eligible to be there, I guess.  We had reserved cabana B1 which is right on the water.  Very nice.  We had a cooler with water inside and 2 floating mats (which we did not use).  I don't know why they don't give you champagne and a fruit tray on Labadee like they do on Cocoa Cay.  I thought that was a nice touch....but you don't get it on Labadee.  Oh, the inhumanity ! (I know....first world problem....).
 
We did what we always do in the cabana.  Go for a short swim, come back and take a nap.  I find the beaches in Labadee to be very hard on the feet...so I always bring water shoes.  Of course, you come back with a shoe full of sand but what're you gonna do ?  So I whacked my water shoes together to try and get rid of the sand, sending sand flying everywhere inside the cabana. I got the GLARE from Dan.  UGH.  Should have done that outside, I guess.  I am not a fan of the labadoozie (too sweet for my taste...sorry, Matt) so I just got a couple of cokes.  Dan got a couple of Coronas.  Lunch was the typical Labadee lunch.  No spare ribs this time unless I just missed them.  It was not until lunchtime that I realized that Dan didn't feel well.  I think he may have had the rum flu (actually, single malt Scotch flu, but that's waaaytooo long a name) but nevertheless, he was not faring well so after a very small lunch (by his standards), and another nap, we made our way back to the ship.
 
 
This time I did not have to deal with Reyno's insensitivity (LOL) so we got the limo back to the gates and trekked the rest of the way home.  Dan got a shower and went straight to bed.  He claimed a stomach ailment but I still believe he had the rum flu.  I searched high and low and inside and outside for some Tums that I bought PRECISELY for this trip.  Nope.  Nada.  Nowhere to be found.  I went down to the general store (I guess we must have left Labadee by this time or I don't think the store would have been open) and bought some Rolaids at $2.50/roll !  Again I kicked myself for forgetting the damned Tums.  He seemed relieved by the Rolaids but I'm not sure it helped him much.  He slept.  I went outside on the balcony and played Candy Crush.
 
It was our night for 150 Central Park - which I hated to miss.  We had enjoyed it so much on Oasis and Allure...but I knew Dan wasn't up for it.  I called Reyno and had him cancel our reservations.  Unfortunately, he cancelled everyone's reservations so when the boys got there at 6:00 they had no reservations.  YIKES !  Luckily they had room so they were able to be accommodated.  Not sure why the other 2 didn't show up.  They did enjoy 150 very much.  I was sorry I missed it.  But I had a very good consolation meal.  I ordered 2 bowls of cream of mushroom soup hoping that Dan was going to sleep through it all and that I would get both bowls.  My prayers were answered.  ...and yes, I scarfed down both bowls and never even blinked an eye !  Tough luck, Dan.   :rolleyes:
 
I watched the Fine Line (Aqua Theater) by myself.  It was a typical AT show but with better aerial tech than on the other O ships.  I always find their themes to be esoteric and impossible to follow...but you just take it for what it is - mindless entertainment from extremely skilled athletes.  One thing I enjoy about watching the AT shows from way up high...you get to watch the underwater technicians in SCUBA  that you cannot see from the bleachers.  They are constantly swimming to and fro beneath the water giving air to performers and arranging whatever needs to be done under water for the set.  You can also watch them hooking up the aerial acts into their harnesses getting ready to fly - they are mere feet away from you on your level.  A wholly different perspective.  Of particular interest in the Harmony AT show is the use of slack lines.  For those rock climbers who are reading this, you are very familiar with slack lines.  They are "tight ropes" (but not really) stretched across the (in this case) pool.  The slack line athletes were truly incredible.  They use those lines just like trampolines.  They had a high slack line act too but that one, to be honest, wasn't particularly entertaining.  I'm sure the wind up at that level prohibits much in the way of a "performance".  He just scooted from one end of the line to the other, fell a couple of times (not all the way off...), and it was over.  The low line, though, was amazing !
 
After my soup, and realizing that Dan was not going to be getting up, I made my way to the casino for the evening's entertainment.  I decided that I was going to give the poker table a try.  For some reason, the O class ships have retained the electronic poker machines.  These machines have been removed from all of the other classes (don't know about the Q class).  When the O class first came out, they had a poker "room" with 3 electronic poker machines.  It was the area where they now have the high stakes Asian games (which is usually empty and a total waste of space, IMO).  They moved the poker tables out, got rid of one so now there are 2 electronic poker machines and no longer a poker "room".  Some people hate the poker machines, but I actually like them.  The poker crowd on a cruise ship changes from cruise-to-cruise.  It's an interesting phenomenon to observe.  You will consistently see the same people, night after night.  Poker players are a predictable bunch.  On this particular cruise there were a number of very tough Russian players.  My style of poker is not conducive to aggressive players so I didn't do well against them.  I never had a winning session but I knew I was outmatched so I never put much money into it.  Each successive night, I would put my $200 into the machine and when it was gone (which it was, every single night), I left.  I still had fun.  It's fun to play against an aggressive table b/c every once in a while (unfortunately for me, not often enough !!!) you can really catch a good hand and slam 'em good !  I got at least one of those each of the nights I played.  Cheap entertainment !
 
I went back to my go-to game - Ultimate Texas Hold'em for the rest of the night.  That's where I can usually find my friends and any new friends I've made.  One of the "boys" up in 1724 is a high stakes blackjack player and I have to admit (even though BJ is not my game) that he is a true artist.  I sat and watched him win $28K in 1 shoe that night.  I wish I had that kind of skill...or luck...or whatever it is.  We closed down the casino around 3AM and I went back to my wonderful bed.  Dan was still asleep.  Tomorrow is a sea day on our way to Cozumel.
 
Update on the missing Tums:  I found them, yesterday morning (4 days after returning home) in my carryon luggage.  I had stuffed them into one of the zippered pockets at the last minute as we were leaving for the airport (it all came back to me once I found them !) so I guess I didn't look for them quite as well as I thought I had !  They were there, all along.  What a waste of $5 for ship's store Rolaids !   :D
 
PS.  I tried to upload the Compass for Day 3 but it said the file was too big.   :angry:   Sorry.
 
I think the Genie stepped in and added some space so that I could insert the daily compass for day 3.  Thank you, Genie Matt
Day 3.pdf

Day 2 was a sea day.  We were heading for Labadee, which will be the first port of call for us.
 
We slept past breakfast so we decided to go down to Central Park and get a beef on weck from the Park Cafe.  This is usually a stop we make numerous times during a cruise but b/c we had so many places to eat to choose from we only made it to the Cafe once.  Hard to believe for us !  The beef on weck was excellent and I am SOOOOO happy to report that they have ditched the nasty gravy that they were using on the roast beef sandwiches last year when we were on Allure and gone back to basics with au jus !  It was really delicious.  They had just ruined the beef on weck with that gravy.  HOORAY !!  Dan kept saying that he was going to hit the hot dog place down on Boardwalk but we never did.  We just had too many choices.  Not always a good thing, I guess.
 
We played in the casino for a while, went back to the room and enjoyed the balcony and at 6:00 it was time for our dinner at Wonderland. You may have already read my review of Wonderland so I won't drone on here.  It was horrible.  Too weird for us.  WAAAYTOO long and just generally, not good. In fairness, I must say that the service was excellent.  That poor dear girl did all she could to try and salvage the dreadful meal but it was hopeless.  Just not our thing, I guess.  We started out with 6 but by the time the meal was done, only 2 remained.  Our Genies both dropped by to see how it was going (I suspect that they had varying degrees of satisfaction with this restaurant in the past - just speculating, here).  We had planned to go back to our room to watch the Aqua Theater show but we got caught up at the casino (who's surprised ??) and never made it.  The stay at the casino was somewhat prolonged by the fact that I hit 2 straight flushes in about 30 minutes' time at the Ultimate Texas Holdem table.  WOOHOO !!!  Those are pretty rare to begin with, but to hit 2 that close together....even the dealer said he'd never seen that before.  Needless to say, Rupert was forever (on that cruise anyway) my favorite dealer !!
 
Stayed out WAAAYTOOO late even knowing that tomorrow was a port day.  This was the night of the infamous pizza-delivery-to-the casino incident.  I was playing at a table somewhere when I noticed a server going through the casino with 3 pizzas stacked in his hand and thought to myself "that's very odd.  I don't think I can ever recall seeing pizza being delivered to anyone in the casino before...".  I thought nothing more of it until the next morning when someone spilled the beans that it had been our buddies, drunk as skunks in the casino, who had called their Genie (bless her sweet heart) and had pizza delivered to them in the casino.  I'm sure there was a swarm of them somewhere drinking, smoking and doing whatever drunks do in a casino at 2:00 in the morning.  ...and yes, I can report to you that I scolded them mercilessly about abusing their Genie privilege.  I'm sure it went in one ear and out the other.  Absolutely shameless.
 
Edit:  Who's surprised ?  I forgot something !  UGH.  Day 2 was the day of the CC Meet and Mingle and Cabin Crawl.  The M&M was at 10:00 in Dazzles (we ate lunch at the Cafe after the M&M).  Typical M&M.  We didn't win anything AGAIN !  At 4:00 was the cabin crawl for which I had been the coordinator.  It was my first time doing anything like this.  Everyone met in our cabin (8330) at 4:00 where our Genie and we had arranged a nice surprise.  We had told the Genie that we expected 15 - 20 people.  Reyno had ordered 4 bottles of sparkling wine and 3 meat platters (and bread) from Jamie's.  They had brought 20 champagne glasses, plates, napkins the whole shebang !  I think we ended up with 16 so the amount we had ordered was perfect.  All but 1 bottle of wine was consumed and all 3 of the meat platters were used.  Then we proceeded to the rest of the cabins that were being shared on the cabin crawl and we ended up at the boys' Sky Loft (1724) where their Genie had arranged a similar end to our wonderful cabin crawl.  They had red and white wine and cheese and fruit trays - again with glasses, plates and napkins.
 
So we ended up paying about $85 for the 4 bottles of sparkling wine (not bad) and all of the food was complimentary.  I'm sure their bill in 1724 was very similar.
Day 2.pdf

No, do NOT turn it down.  The Star Class was incredible.  Everything is included.  All drinks, all specialty dining, Voom (Surf and Stream), free laundry any time, as much as you need, free in-room movies, free access to the Thermal Spa, and the services of the Genie, which are NOT to be undervalued.  I have read many people say that they don't need the Genie.  That's true.  Nobody NEEDS a Genie, but once you have one, you will never want to cruise without one again !
 
I was slightly concerned that I would feel like they were "lurking" or being too invasive, but they know just how to be of service without being an imposition.  The only thing that we turned down was the invitation to do a bridge tour.  If you are not a D+ cruiser with Royal then this might have been something that was very attractive b/c maybe you haven't ever seen the bridge of a big ship before (or even a small ship, for that matter !) but we have been on many bridge tours before so we declined that invitation.  But other than that, we were grateful for every recommendation/reservation that our Genie made for us !
 
Many people have written, "I can just buy the drink package, the specialty dining package and the internet package" and save some money.  First of all, I don't know that you would save any money if you paid separately for all of that but the price of the Genie is hard to quantify.  Being escorted on and off the ship (and skipping all of the lines) whenever you want to go somewhere is pretty awesome.  Calling your Genie in the middle of the night to send pizza to you and your drunk friends in the casino (something we did NOT do, but our buddies in 1724 did) is pretty unique.  Our Genies arranged 3 separate parties between the 2 suites.  The amount of food that they sent to the party on 1724 on Thursday night was stunning.  Food came from Jamies and Sabor and they actually had to send food BACK b/c there was so much.  All of the drinks in your suite fridge are included, where that is NOT included in the drinks package.  They will stock your Suite with whatever you want to drink (beer and wine...not liquor) and water....as much as you want.

So I will start at the beginning. 
 
We flew to FLL from DC on Friday evening.  The flight was supposed to leave DCA at 7:30 PM and arrive in FLL at 10:13.  ...but there were a few false starts to this trip.  We first taxied out, then turned around and returned to the gate (or should I say "a" gate...it was never the one we originally started from) 3 different times !!!!  Each time we got out to a certain point on the taxiway some damn computer glitch would force us to turn around, return to the gate and have a technician come onboard and reset whatever gremlin was in the computer system.  It was at this point that I was soooo thankful that I had changed my airline reservations from a same-day flight to the flight the night before.  Had this kind of nonsense happened to us on sail day, I would have been a nervous wreck !   We were in First Class so they plied us with alcohol but I will say, there were a number of very nervous passengers on that flight by the time that plane headed for the gate the third time !  If it had happened again I feel sure that many would have bailed. But the third time was the charm and we finally took off;  they swooshed everyone back into their seats and off we went.  The rest of the flight was uneventful.  We arrived in FLL well after midnight.  
 
I was fearful that maybe they had labeled us as "no shows" at the hotel we had booked (Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina) but when we finally got to our hotel (nearly 1AM at this point) they had a room for us.  Don't know if it was the original room we had booked, but any room would have worked at this point.  I was very surprised that the customer service guy who checked us in tried to run a scam with us by offering to "upgrade" our room (to what, I'm not sure....) for $100.  Really ?  It's 1AM and I am leaving at 10:00 for a cruise ship.  I don't care if you put me in a broom closet at this point.  NO !  I DON'T WANT A ROOM UPGRADE !  So then, he says, "how about $50 ?" ....then $30.  What ?  Just give me the f'n room keys, dude !  So we finally made it to our room...perfectly acceptable as it had a bed and a bathroom, which were the only 2 requirements I had at this point.  We slept like babies !!
 
2 of our friends had driven down and stayed somewhere else but 2 of our friends were staying in the same Hotel so the next morning we searched for the friends that were in the hotel and after a couple of false starts, we grabbed a cab and off to the port we went !
 
We had been in communication with our Genies at this point for over a week.  First contacts were by email but then just before we flew down, we were given a link to a comm app, "the Loop".  This app proved to be a poor method of contacting the Genie, as he/she had to be at a computer to get the message.  After we boarded, we found the best way to communicate was to simply pick up a house phone and call their 5 digit phone number.  I deleted the Loop app.
 
So we had made prior arrangements with the Genies to board between 11 - 11:15.  Unfortunately, the taxi that delivered us to the port did not drop us off where we should have been dumped and we had to lug our suitcases farther than we should have had to....but eventually we got our luggage dumped and found our way to the Star Class entrance.  This was all pretty much a blur...it all happened so fast.  But they put us through a scanner (I think) and eventually we met Reyno, who took all 4 of us on a dash - and I DO MEAN a dash.  Reyno is a former militry-man (in a most exotic South African accent) and fitness instructor so you had to be quick to keep up with him !!  We went through side doors and past long lines of people getting on; we went behind the Guest Services area and God knows where...until we finally met up with Alexandra, who took the boys to their suite and Reyno took us to ours.  That all happened in a matter of maybe 3 minutes.  I was surprised that it took our luggage quite a long time to find its way to our suite, which was different from what I had read in other Star Class Suite reviews.  I'm not sure what happened to our luggage but it eventually got there and we managed to get unpacked before the muster drill (barely).  It was nice being able to get to our Suite before 1:00.
 
I have tons of pictures and I will post them eventually...but I can only say....WOW.  The 2 BR ATS was incredible.  It was the size of a small apartment and the deck was almost as large as the rooms.  We have had an ATS before (on Allure last Feb.), but only a 1 BR version.  This was amazing.  The absolute ONLY negative about this suite is the LONG walk from the aft elevators to get there but it was so worth it.   It was a decadent amount of room for just 2 people.  The only thing in the second bedroom was our luggage.  There was a chilled bottle of Moet waiting for us and a platter of some kind of food (can't remember what it was) and Reyno took a little time (not as much as I wish he could have) to explain how to contact him and the preliminary itinerary that he had put together for us.  He had already taken the liberty of reserving restaurants for us for every night.  Of course, we could have changed anything we wanted to change (but we really didn't !).  It was nice not to have to think about it.  We just fell in line with his itinerary.
 
What's surprising is that Alex did not do the same thing for the boys up in 1724.  I guess each Genie has their own way of "helping" and since the boys did not have any pre-arranged dining reservations, they just asked Reyno to share our itinerary with Alex and that was the beginning of the most wonderful Genie-marriage !  From then on, we were synched and we now had 2 Genies instead of 1 !!!
 
We asked Reyno to please attend the muster drill on our behalf but he said that he liked his job too much and that if he did that for us, he would lose his job !   :P   So we reluctantly went to the muster drill which was downstairs in the Aqua Theater.  What a waste of time !  We could have just sat on our balcony and seen and heard it all from there.  We could have stayed home and sipped our champagne, but we went down and behaved.
 
Our first night's reservations were at Chops...and I will say, this was probably our best meal of the entire cruise (and I am not normally a huge fan of Chops).  We all got the aged steaks.  Dan got the lobster too. (I could never have eaten all of that !!).  We all had numerous drinks.  What was our bill at the end ?   -0-.  Of course, we left a generous tip.  I will just tell you now.  We never paid for a single bite of food or a single drop of alcohol (except for the champagne for the cabin crawl, which I will tell you about in a later entry) for the entire cruise.  We even got the milk shakes at Johnny Rockets and Vintages' wine-by-the glass for free.  Even though our beverages often were listed above the $13 price, we never ever paid any overage fees.  If we had ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon I'm sure we would have had a different outcome, but we were very happy to find that all of our beverages were covered as part of the Star Class program.
 
Lots of gambling, lots of drinking...late night, but tomorrow is a sea day !  YIPEE !!!!
 
Edit:  Forgot to include that we had lunch on embark day at Sabor.  It was very disappointing.  The Sabor on Harmony (and I assume all of the O class ships) do not have Queso Fundido, which is my absolute favorite !  The guac, while good, was not nearly as good as the one they do tableside (or used to do, tableside....I hear that they have discontinued this !).  We did not go back to Sabor at all on this cruise.  It is nowhere nearly as good as the Sabor on NAV.
 
Edit #2:  I guess this is why people do live blogs when they're actually LIVE !  I keep forgetting important stuff !  We went to see Grease on Night #1. Our Genies had reserved 6 seats right in the front row for us.  They met us while we were still in Chops having dinner and escorted us all the way to our seats in the front of the theater.  They put red "reserved" drapes over the backs of the chairs so no one else sits there.  Then, when you get there, they remove the drapes and you have front row seats !  That is really GOOD service !  I will say that the show was the best one that I have seen on Royal Caribbean, bar none.  It was really very very good.  Of course, that isn't particularly impressive coming from me b/c I am not a "show" person.  I absolutely hated Chicago, Hairspray and Cats and only moderately tolerated Mama Mia b/c of the music.  That is the stupidest story line ever !   ...anyway, Grease was great.  I hope everyone will see it.
 
I think I'm really done for Day 1, now.
Day 1.pdf

Well, this isn't going to be live...it's been over, going on 2 weeks now...but I thought I would jot down a few notes about my recent Harmony cruise.
 
We were a group of 6.  2 Star Class Suites and 1 inside cabin.
 
This was our first (but definitely NOT our last) Star Class Suite.  Our Genie was Reyno (Reyno is the "face" of the Genie program.  If you have seen any brochures of the Star Class Program, he is the one in all of the photos).  We were in a 2 BR Aqua Theater Suite (8330).  2 of our friends were in a Sky Loft Suite (1724); their Genie was Alexandra.  Our last 2 friends were in an inside cabin and I have to say....they were enthusiastically included in all of the activities that our Genies set up for us.  Yes, they were presented a bill for the meals that they ate with us, but never once were they not invited to come along, no matter what we were doing.  I am very grateful to the Genies for this.  They could easily have excluded them, as they were not in a Star Class Suite (or ANY suite, for that matter).  When we had reserved seats for shows, there were always 6 seats covered with the red drape that was synonymous with Star Class reserved seating.  
 
Probably our biggest surprise, and greatest joy, was the way that our 2 Genies coordinated the entire cruise.  We were all completely comfortable with calling either Genie to make a request and that request was always extended to include all 6 of us (unless we indicated otherwise).  Reyno and Alex could not be more different.  Alex is a reserved, all-business, graceful and elegant lady.  Reyno is a loud, cutesie, gregarious loose cannon (but SOOO much fun !!) but they made the consummate team for making everything absolutely perfect.  Well...nearly perfect.  There were only a few places where the program seemed to fall short...which I will discuss later.
 
Biggest surprise ?  The bed !  OMG, the king sized Duxiana mattress was the most comfortable bed I have EVER slept in.  It was heavenly.
 
Biggest disappointment ?  The cruise was only 7 nights and it just FLEW by - more quickly than any other cruise I have taken.
 
 

Hope This Helps.Here A Some Great Blog About Star Class And The Genie Program 
 
 

Oasis of the Seas, April 14, 2019.  This will be my second RCL cruise.  I have booked TL #1718.  Does anyone have any suggestions on what to expect with the Royal Genie program?  I am not very needy but as with my first cruise, I did enjoy the Concierge taking care of all of our onboard reservations and having priority seating at events.  

Whew,  I was not looking forward to lugging around a cup for a week.  Thank you.

The cups you get with the package are for use in the freestyle drink machines. These machines dispense a wide variety of drinks. There is a chip in the cup that activates the machine. If you don't want to carry the cup, you can still get sodas at any bar or venue.

Thank you @TNphilp !!  It looks like they are under the balcony and they will not obstruct my view.  I did find a youtube video of a large balcony on Harmony of the seas, and they had a great shot on the balcony.  No lifeboats in view. :) You worked hard for me!!!!!!  So kind.  I loved the video
 

I will look for your blog regarding your trip.  I'm a flight attendant, off to Tampa this evening for a quick trip.  Then off to San Francisco on Saturday.

We did the same cruise a few years ago on the Adventure of the Seas and made it to the pier around 1130-1200.  When you get there and drop off luggage look for the suite line it will be considerably shorter.  Have your passport, set sail on line check in form and your credit card ready and everything will be smooth.   One other thing to consider is the group that's in the Jr. Suite will not be able to use the suite lounge.  The suite lounge has happy hour (free drinks) from 5 to 8 but only open to guests in the Grand Suite and above.  The rooms don't generally open till 1 or 2 so if its better to have a small back pack with you for your money, passports, jewelry etc. instead of rolling around a suitcase with you for 2 or 3 hours when your exploring the ship on the first day.  We have been on the Freedom 2 times and its a great ship.  Good luck, relax and remember you're on vacation.

I was close lol.

I will look for your blog regarding your trip.  I'm a flight attendant, off to Tampa this evening for a quick trip.  Then off to San Francisco on Saturday.

Don't remember if I addressed this part, but we bought the Dinning package so we will only be in the MDR on a couple of nights, be in the specialty restaurants the other nights.

I forgot this part, on Liberty the Diamond lounge and Concierge lounge are directly next to each other on Deck 14, up by the Viking Crown Lounge.
You can definitely get on earlier now especially with the Suite priority boarding.
I'm the opposite, I've never flown in to Aruba and Curacao, this will be our 4th cruise to both islands.

My wife works at a school so this is her Fall Break, with that said we cannot leave until 6pm Friday 10-12, we are going as far as Miami and then getting up early Saturday morning and catching the 1st flight out of Miami to San Juan, we will be there by 9:50am I think. Maybe we will see each other in the Suite Boarding area. My wife and I are Diamond C&A members so we will split our time between the Diamond Lounge and the Suite lounge when on board.
If you get the chance try and look around Old San Juan, it's where the port is, very beautiful old city, a lot of people from the form have been down there since the hurricane and stated that old San Juan shows no ill affects.
As Matt said, you will love this ship.

You picked a great ship and even better rooms!
 
Ask your stateroom attendant to open up the balcony dividers Get to the port early (10:30-11:30am) on embarkation day.  Sooner you check-in, sooner you board! Research pre-cruise purchases via the Cruise Planner on RC's site.  Many purchases are cheaper before the cruise than onboard.

Welcome to the boards @TNphilp, I will be on that same cruise in October, so ask away, any questions you might have, my wife (We are mid 50's also) and I will be in a Grand suite on deck 10 on the starboard side, the owners suits should be on the same deck I believe. We have never been on Freedeom before, but have been on Liberty and Indy, you will love this size ship.
1 suggestion, if you want is to have your cabin steward open your balconies up to where you have 1 large balcony.
You will love this itinerary, we especially love Aruba and Cruacio, 2 of our favorite islands