Yo2slick

18 hours ago, berkeleykel said:

Hi all, I may be overthinking this but I have a large ocean view balcony room booked for a Norwegian fjords cruise next year on Anthem.

When is your sailing?  We are on Anthem July 2024!

1 minute ago, Keanoknick said:

When we were on Allure 3 weeks ago, earliest time was 11:00,   we showed up to drop off our luggage at 10:15 expecting a wait,  we went right through security and were on the ship before 10:30.  Smoothest embarkation of any cruise we've been on.   Also,  we were not in a suite, and did not have The Key.

When we were on Allure in February embarkation was an absolute  show.  Glad to see they have it sorted. 

2 hours ago, Vincent Tayloe said:

Has any one used the THE KEY

I have and I have it booked for our upcoming cruise.  You will find varying opinions on its worth, I personally find value in it.  I like the priority embarkation, reserved seating and I do take advantage of the time blocked off for certain activities.  I am purchasing internet to begin with so if the Key is on sale I can usually get it for around 7-8 dollars per day more than the internet package.  That makes it worth it for us. 

@3615971 Just communicate to your genie exactly what you want.  If you have certain dining reservations you want to make or shows you want to see just let her know.  The emails between you and your genie are way more important than that generic questionnaire in my opinion.   Let your genie know that you are celebrating your birthday ect.  The more information you give them about your expectations, likes and dislikes, what you want out of your cruise the better.

French onion soup is amazing, the cheesecake and royal chocolate cake are awesome.  Best advise I can give you is try everything!  We often order multiple items in the MDR just to try different things.  I really like the buffet at breakfast time.  Even on our SC sailing I still went to the buffet for breakfast 5 out of the 7 mornings.  Chops is great, 150 CP is a must as well.  

1 hour ago, Weezie57 said:

Just returned from a cruise on Voyager of the Seas.  We really enjoyed the cruising experience but were disappointed in the food.  Given we have only been on four cruises, 1 Princess-1 Disney-2 RCL, this was easily the worst food we have had.  Tried the MDR the first 2 nights but then elected to eat the remainder of our meals in the Windjammer.  Overall I can say the food was mediocre at best.  The exception was breakfast at the Windjammer where there were plenty of good options including an omelet station.  I only hope RCL improves this area of their experience before we cruise with them again.

We are on Voyager in August, hope they get it figured out soon. 

10 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

The priority embarkation is definitely a plus. We usually board pretty early and quick but they still a nice perk with the Key. Priority tendering seems to be a good perk also. We tender in Bar Harbor in October. 

Yeah, I'm the kind of person that hates waiting and I have no problem paying to bypass a line.  I realize not everyone sees a value in that but its huge for me.  I guess its just like anything else, something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  I agree that 40.99 is ridiculous though.  I would only buy on sale.  

I bought the Key on our upcoming sailing on sale at 24.99.  Its 37.99 right now.  Internet was 16.99 per day so I'm only paying an additional 8 dollars per day.  That 8 dollars is worth priority embarkation, reserved seats for shows, priority disembarkation and while the times allowed for certain activities like a hour on the flowrider seem to be a joke, I take full advantage of that hour.  Hell I would pay 8 dollars a day just for priority embarkation.  After seeing the line at the new terminal in Galveston in February to due the inability of people to listen and check in at their assigned times, I'll gladly pay to check in at a separate line and be one of the first to board to make my dining reservations.   

On 5/2/2023 at 11:34 AM, Royal C.. said:

Just finding out purchasing a star class suit to find out from RC I still have to pay for a refreshment package.

This is not correct.  Star Class includes beverage and dining package for everyone in the suite. 

@romelio If you decide to keep the Chops +1 the first thing you should do is head straight to a specialty restaurant and make that reservation as soon as you board.  That will be your best chance to get a reservation.  If you just have to have that time slot on that day you would be best to book that restaurant separate.    

Just wanted to let you all know Southwest airlines is having a sale with code 40OFF on flights through 12/14/23.  We just cut our airfare in half for our cruise in August!  If you're not familiar with SWA you can reprice your existing bookings as well!

3 hours ago, crazy4disney said:

Maybe one of you who has parked in one of the North lots can help me out... In this picture is the North Premium lot everything from the obvious division on up, and below that is the regular North lot? I would think so, but then I'm confused because I thought the premium lot was all covered, and there are plenty of uncovered spots in that section. I hemmed and hawed too long over the cost of the premium (it's a lot!) and now it's sold out, but the regular North lot is still available. We don't care about covered parking, though, just distance -- and if those uncovered spots are just considered part of the regular North lot then I'll jump on that while I can. 

 

The uncovered spots are for sure the regular north lot.

We personally stay in Webster and drive in the next morning.  Plenty of places to stay and eat and right off I-45.

@Sunnymer You just type the @ symbol and start typing the name you want.

This will be our first trip to the UK and first to Norway!  Still deciding on what to do in London pre or post cruise.

On our Star Class sailing we used WhatsApp to communicate sudden changes or if our Genie wanted to meet with us ect ect.  He always met with us face to face everyday and at every lunch and dinner we had reservations for.  He escorted us to shows we had reservations for as well.  I think it was a nice balance between the phone and in person communication but every Genie is different it seems.   

Our genie emailed us 1-2 weeks out and asked about some preferences we had and he made an itinerary for us.  We were able to change anything we wanted to ahead of time and once onboard.  Changing things on the fly was no problem at all.  Just be sure to communicate what you want.  

Also regarding the UDP that is included with your SC sailing...Our experience was that none of the limitations that come with the UDP existed for us.  There were no al la carte pricing limits, no upcharge for Hibachi ect.  We ordered anything we wanted and as much as we wanted.  We were also able to order several lobster tails in CK on our second formal night with no extra charge.  We even ordered sushi rolls at our Hibachi dinners with no charge.  So take advantage of it while you can!  Ben and Jerry's ice cream and Starbucks coffee was no charge either. 

Anyone else on this sailing? 

Celebrating my wife's birthday and our anniversary on this cruise!

Liberty is a wonderful ship and we absolutely love it!  We wanted to get another sailing on it before it left Galveston but restrictions lifted 1 week after our sailing date.  Highly recommend trying Liberty of the Seas.

I think good deals can still be had even on shorter notice.  Everyone is wanting the newest and biggest ships and I'm over here booking older ships with no care as to the time of year.  If its a good deal and it gets us on the water I'm booking it.  We did just book a Grand Suite Large Balcony on Anthem for next year and while it might have been more expensive, it was the last suite for the sailing and that is one of my bucket list cruises.  

It just boils down to how flexible you are and what exactly you want.  People are spending money like their pants are on fire right now, even buying cars at 15 percent interest not to mention the mortgage rates.  When people are out of money or tired of giving it all away, prices will eventually come back down. 

44 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

If you made it all the way to day 7 before the onset of food fatigue you did damn well.  It usually hits me by day 3.

Oh I was in a food coma way before day 7.  I never in my life thought I would say I was tired of eating Filet Mignon.  By the last day I was wore out.  

32 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Thanks very much for this intel.  We will be in a suite in 2 weeks (OA) and wondered if we would have to go to the MDR on formal night to get lobster.  Not SC but hopeful that we will be able to get lobster tails served in the CK.  Next problem:  getting lamb shank delivered up to the CK on the last night !  

We saw several people getting the lobster tails in CK on formal night.  Our waiter even told us we had 2 options for lobster that night, the one on the menu or the tails.  By night 7 I was tired of eating .

9 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

 

Where were you dining (as SC) when you ordered the lobster ?  Was it MDR lobster (formal night) or were you in a specialty restaurant ? 

It was night 6 formal night and we went to Coastal Kitchen.  We asked our Genie about MDR and he said it would be no problem getting it in CK.  Side note,  We ate at Izumi 3 times for Hibachi and ordered extra lobster there along with sushi rolls with dinner and there was no charge either.   

22 minutes ago, MLH said:

We are going in May on Allure.  Not our first star class but first on Allure.  Sorry to hear you had some  not so nice guests.  We only time we had an issue was debarkation walking past the lines.  A lady actually put her suitcase out in the aisle so we could not get by.

 

Do you know when Jay is going home.  We have had Smitha before and would like to experience someone new, not that there was anything wrong with her, just looking for a different experience.

Allure is a wonderful ship, we really enjoyed it.  I'm not sure when Jay is going home, I'll have to ask my wife if she remembers.  When we jumped into the elevator this morning for debarkation a couple squeezed through the door after us.  I was smashed into the luggage cart and Jay told the man this was a priority elevator and they couldn't care less.  I just use people's attitudes as fuel to work harder and put in more effort so I can book another cruise.

We use TSA Cable locks on our bags.

So I decided not to do a live blog during our cruise so I could just relax and enjoy my vacation but I would love to tell you all about our first SC experience.  We learned a ton during this cruise and had some wonderful experiences and some not so great moments.  The not so great moments were from other guests that were "upset" because we skipped lines or had seats reserved for shows ect...  Star Class is something everyone should do at some point.  I can tell you everything we were able to do and things we requested but its more than that.  Our Genie Jay was the kindest and most outgoing person we could have ever hoped to meet and we consider him a member of our family now.  Its such a personal experience and I am sure its different for everyone.  

The thing I enjoyed most was not having to worry about scheduling anything or waiting in line at all.  If we had any issues our Genie took care of them and he made arrangements on the fly for us.  He texted and asked if our daughters would like to go ice skating and he would meet us at Studio B.  When we arrived the line was probably 200+ people deep and he walked us right in and they were on the ice in probably 5 minutes.  After the 20 minute session they were told they could go back out if they wanted.  That is just one of the many things he did for us and it really made our cruise that much more special. 

I'll try to separate everything out day by day and if anyone has a question about Star Class I would be more than happy to share what I know.