DJsMrs

I have no idea how to resolve this myself, but I will tell you that when I experienced this I had to visit Guest Services onboard in order to be able to make the app functional for the sailing I was on.
Guest Services said they had to do something to link my reservation to me in order to make it enabled.  All of my other sailings showed MY SAILING except for the one I had trouble with on the ship.  
You may want to call Royal and state you can't see your reservation and see if they can figure out the missing piece to get it REALLY linked to you so it will show that MY SAILING.  
I had no issues in the app with checking in, using it to board, etc. But once I connected to the ship's wifi it wasn't recognizing that I had boarded already and allowing me to see the Cruise Compass and make dining reservations.

Here’s my overview
We arrived at the terminal around 10:30 and a Star porter immediately grabbed us!  We went thru the Star line and was on the second floor within a few minutes.  No line at all.  Our genie, Nicoli, met us and escorted us into the suite section to wait for boarding to begin.  About 15 minutes later when boarding began we had to wait in line with all of the other suite people.  I did find that a bit surprising that we were not ahead of that crowd to board.  Since it was so early our Mexican restaurant was not ready so we headed to our room.  Luggage was not there.  After doing some hooting and hollering it was time to eat.  Our food at the Mexican restaurant was o.k.  
Headed back to room to unpack then headed for ice cream and milkshakes at the ice cream place.  The milkshakes there were better than Johnny Rockets.  We did eat at Johnny Rockets for lunch one day and had a “new” employee.  She was completely at lost on how to take an order for five people.  Our French fries came out way before our hamburgers, which were totally all wrong.  Hubby stayed to eat his while the rest of us got out of there.  Hubby had a nice chat with the manager and explained the employee was not ready to be on her own.  She needed to still follow someone.  
We did hit the casino each night only to be disappointed each night.  I don’t expect to overall win each night but I do expect some give, instead of all take!  It was the worse loosing casino I had ever been to.  Maybe, the machines are tight due to covid.
We ate at most of the speciality restaurants and all were good, except Chef’s table, which was a disappointment. Everyone at the table got their steaks cooked way wrong and didn’t eat them. Even if the steaks were cooked correctly the meat was a cheap piece of meat.  I felt for the people that had actually paid for that privilege.  Service was good!  
150 had the best service and really good food.  The server there was top notch!!  Kids had steaks at all places we ate at dinner and each voted the “suite lounge” as having the best steak….ever.  
The Garden Martini at 150 was awesome.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed a vegetable martini!  On the other hand, I did not like the lavender martini at chops.  Odd taste  
One thing you need to take into account is the amount of “tips” you will need to give.  From our first porter, guy who sat up our breakfast each morning on the balcony (he was awesome), lunch in speciality restaurants or suite lounge, dinner in speciality restaurants, bartenders, cabin steward, Genie, and two porter guys to get to our cab.  Since there were five of us we tipped $10.00 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $50.00 for dinner.  Porter guys got $10.00 each.  It added up fast.  
We saw shows:  Comedy and the Ice show.  Comedy was fine.  We had seats reserved on the front side. Ice show was good and was made even better due to our middle front row seats.  Loved it there! Also, we watched the aqua show from our balcony which was fun.  We did not go to the headliner show because the singer was not our type.  Our Genie would meet us at each show and make sure we had our preferred drink.  Nicoli also met us each night at dinner.  He would then get our nightly snacks order and breakfast order for the next morning.
Our Genie showed up for our first balcony breakfast and sat a few moments with us on our balcony.  We would then see him again at dinner.  Most days it was just at dinner unless we went to a show after dinner, but we texted several times a day.  I think Nicoli figured out fast that we preferred our space and did not need constant cuddling.  I liked using the what’s up app for contact with him.  It was easy just to text him, instead of having to call him.   He always responded immediately and completed what I wanted.  One night I decided during the dinner that I wanted my daughter’s birthday cake to be delivered there. Nicoli made it happen. Both cakes were unbelievable. The taste was really good but the art work was the best I had ever seen!!  
Our Genie was a good fit for us.  He is personal, easy going and professional, when needed.  He had “four” rooms our week….five in our room, four in another, two in the other two bedroom aqua suite and I think three in the last room.  Because of lack of replacement, he was on his second tour and due to go home in April for a break.  On some ships, due to lack of Genies, some genies have had to service more than seven rooms.
Our room steward had 15 rooms to clean, one two bedroom aqua suite and the rest were a mixture of inside and balcony rooms.  Our suite was like cleaning three rooms, so he had 18 rooms to clean.  The cruise after us were increasing their passenger count but not staff.  He will have to clean three to five rooms more starting after our cruise.  Every day we would leave two bags full of stuff to be cleaned and pressed.  Two dry cleaning bags are in your room.  You fill out a paper on what you have in the bag.  I have heard horrible dry cleaning stories but all of our stuff came back better than what we get from our dry cleaners at home.  
Our passenger account was just over 50 percent.  Definitely didn’t feel as crowed as pre covid.  The casino was crowded.  There’s a good distance between the smoking and non smoking sections.  Non smoking section is bigger too.  
We only did one tour and that was in Honduras - Sloth and Monkey tour.  It was so much fun!  If you do this tour  hang back from the crowd.  Let them all run into the monkey cage.  By doing so you will get more personal attention at the end.  In Costa Maya, we walked into town.  The walk there and back was around 4.4 miles.  When you get to the end of the street there’s no signage of which way to go to town.  Go left!  In Cozumel we just walked straight out of port for a bit and walked back.  The weather was perfect in all the places for walking.  We did have rain a couple of times but we were already back on the ship.  
The last sea day our Genie had us and two other ladies for a personal hour on the flow rider.  Hubby and son took advantage of that hour.  It was fun watching them!  Son did the rock climbing and climbed right past our room.   Almost close enough for us to reach out and knock him down!
This was our first “diamond” cruise.  We already had unlimited drinks and the suite lounge so really didn’t need the use of the diamond lounge.  We did each get a “free” picture so that was a nice bonus.  
A repeat:  I hosted our slot pull on the first sea day at 11 am.  It took about an hour with 79 people participating.  We each put in 15 dollars.  At the end we had each lost $5.00.  People thanked us the whole cruise for hosting!  Our Genie gave us shirts, hats, water bottle and two sets of towel clips that said VIP and reserved to give as gifts for those who won the most money on their pulls.  
Our cruise was the first cruise having masks as optional.  Around ten percent (maybe even lower) chose to wear them.  I don’t think we had many cases, if any.  Except for staff wearing a mask the cruise was just like the old days……well, less crowded.  
Maybe because we were away from the suite floor….we just never got any unannounced visitors.  Guy came with our preplanned breakfast order, afternoon snacks then nightly snacks.  The Aqua suites are a good distance from any civilization but we ended up loving that.  We are walkers and always enjoyed the long walk down the hallway to our room.  
Nicoli left us each a royal hat as a gift.  We gave him cash as we were leaving the ship.  We gave the room steward cash the last night, incase we didn’t see him the next morning.  
Our Genie met us the last morning at seven with a porter.  He was thankful that we were leaving that early.  Most star class passengers try to stay until the last moment leaving genies trying to get them “all” off and rooms set up for the next passengers.  Our luggage was put on the cart and we all entered an elevator that was going “up” and Nicoli with a special card made the elevator go down.  He walked us to just before customs and handed us over to another porter.  Customs was just a facial recognition moment then off the ship we were.  The porter was awesome.  He brought us over to the taxi service on the side and had someone take us to the airport.  I’m thinking going to the side for a cab is normally not allowed.  I think you have to wait until they line up at the front entrance.  
I started this cruise at 137 pounds. First day off the ship I weighed 140.  Three days later I’m at 138.  Thinking tomorrow I’ll be back to the 137.  At this point, I’m sick of food.  Nothing sounds good.  I’m still stuffed.  By the last night on the cruise I just couldn’t eat, even the fish I was so looking forward to having.  
Hubby and I started the cruise thinking “star class” wouldn’t be a good fit for us.  I still tried to keep the rooms clean, but it was hard to keep up with our kids (grown-ass adults), so we did get our monies worth from the cabin steward!  Everything was done so smoothly.  First class service and attention.  I know some of you “hate” to show your special card but I recommend you keep that sucker around your neck to be seen.  You are paying for first class service!  
The vacation was one of the best ever, and I attribute that to being star class.  It’s expensive and I would not recommend using monies that should be going to your retirement account to take a star class cruise. You could do several  cruises instead of one star cruise for the same price.  Think hard before you spend that much for one week.  
That said, I’m older. More life is behind me than ahead of me.  I’ve spent my time in an interior/balcony room.   I’m getting close to the time that it’s good to spend some of my kid’s inheritance money, so I booked another two bedroom aqua suite - January 2024 on the Harmony.  
Thanks for following!
 
 

Pretty sure if you're sick with covid they aren't going to send you food that will make you feel worse.   They will honour dietary requirements/restrictions.   

Pretty sure if you're sick with covid they aren't going to send you food that will make you feel worse.   They will honour dietary requirements/restrictions.   

Day 4 last day!  AKA “do everything you didn’t do yet today.” 🤣
 I finally got David to have a meal in coastal kitchen. We had breakfast which was amazing and fast! Sasha had pancakes with chocolate chips. I had an over easy egg with corned beef hash. Super healthy not!! 😋 David had a smoked salmon omelette. 🤮  Sasha ate her pancakes before the server got back. He was impressed and brought her more.
So here is what I think about coastal kitchen…. I love it!! The views are beautiful. The kids that are in there are well behaved. The servers are the best of the best! Our server flipping cut Sashas pancakes for her. The guy would have spoon fed my child had I let him. I love that kind of service. Im a starbratt what do you expect! 🤷‍♀️😎 I would rather say “no thanks” or “we are good, but thank you” then “can I get a manger” (I swear I am not a Karen)  🤣 
My hubby loved the peaceful breakfast and wished we had had more time to experience coastal kitchen. After breakfast David headed to the zip line. It’s the last day of the cruise and he had not yet zip lined. He got it in and can rightfully say he did it and his brother didn’t. 🤣😎 We had a big blow out this day with the family. His brother and kids were being ungrateful brats. That’s putting it lightly. Just complaining about the lines, stuff not being open, no grape jelly, not the correct sugar, the flo rider instructor lady was mean, whatever they ate there was an issue by one of them…. Every time you saw them it was a complaint and never a positive word. I finally had had it. They were wanting to go in the ultimate abyss line and I said David was about to zip line if they wanted to watch. They complained that it was taking to long and said “what your genie couldn’t get him to the very front there are 3 people in front of him?!” They legit were crying about waiting for 3 people to go bc they needed to get to the ultimate abyss STAT! I said the zip line had just opened up and the ultimate abyss  wouldn’t nearly be as long as a line bc there were 2 slides. well I was wrong. 😇🙃 A line had formed. They let me have it when I saw them. They legit pushed their 10 year old daughter towards me to let her talk down to me. “oh no line Alisha really! what do you call this!?” Then Jordan started to talk down to me. At that moment I really felt disrespected and was shocked. The last day and they still were a bunch of Debbie downers. ✌️ I grabbed Sasha and said not to stand in line with them as they were being ungrateful and rude and I didn’t want her to act like that to her elders or people in general. I had dropped close to 5 k for them to be here and they had not said one positive thing. When someone gifts your family with a cruise. The least you can do is refrain from complaining about how bad it is every time they are around. I wasn’t looking for them to thank me. I was just hoping that if they were not happy to not complain to me about it and save it for when I wasn’t there. It’s one thing to be unhappy about something but then there is a line that gets crossed and it turns into being ungrateful which I do not tolerate. I grew up in foster care and never heard a 10th as much complaints from my foster brother and sisters as I heard in one day from this family. I was homeless and on the streets and never heard as many complaints. Here I am on a freaking cruise in the ocean with fresh salty air. The weather is warm and breezy. Drinks are all over the place and steel drums playing in the back ground. Drowning it out was all their complaints. No one wants to hear everything negative about a vacation that is happening. If you don’t like it move on and focus on the positive. I learned real quick that they are the glass is half empty family. I think it’s all they know how to do is complain when they talk to each other. I’m not sure if they even realized it half the time. 😔 I told them that if a freaking royal genie couldn’t make them happy then to god bless them bc aint no body going to make them happy! Life is too short to hang out with negative nancy’s and debbie downers. ✌️ I took Sasha and said “we are star class let’s have fun there is no reason for us to subject ourselves to that crap.”  Sasha and I rode the slide twice. We went and bought a cute cover up top. Rode the carousel and grabbed some ice cream. I talked to Cynthia and David. David was at his limit with their behavior as well. Cynthia told me to not let that change my vacation and to still have fun. On that note Sasha and I went and had more fun therapy shopping. The debbie downers finally arrived with more complaining so I walked away as I was at my limit and needed space and air. David and Cynthia had a major talk with them. I was frustrated because we had the owners box at playmakers slotted for in like 20 minutes which was going to be $300 and another gift to the ungrateful family. I was not about to have them sit in there and complain the entire time. Ty and Ronny decided to go to Loco Fresh and eat tacos. Because getting the tacos delivered to the owners box was not what they wanted. There is no pleasing them lol! 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️
Rayne followed Sasha and photo bombed as I was taking this pic. It actually came out cute though. 👍🏻
Playmakers it was time and Nityam showed us to the owners box. I really should have planned it better, There was only golf and soccer on. oops lol! I still had fun as I am a soccer fan woot woo! We ordered wings, kids tenders, onion ring tower, burger, tuna poke nachos (those are AMAZING!) beers and more beers. Dessert was the camp fire cookie HOLY HELL! yes it comes with milk shooters it’s soooooooo damn good! We ordered like 4 of them and the ice cream. 
campfire cookies for days!  Our server was amazing! This was his last week before he goes home to his family. He has a 1 year old who he has not seen for 6 months. I gave him a huge hug! As a parent my heart was aching for him. It’s tough for some of these crew members. I tipped him well and named him in the post cruise survey 😎💪🏻 

Once dessert came word got out and Ronny and Ty came over in time to enjoy it. You pretty much had to roll me out of the place and this was just lunch! 🤣
Next up was Next Cruise. I went there and saw a huge line of appointments and stand by. I felt a sudden sense of “oh crap!” OopsI didn’t know know your had to make an appointment for this. Well hell! OOPS! I stood there with my drama skills on full display. (Honor Thespian here troup 4224💪🏻) The glossy eyes desperate batting eyes of “excuse me i’m lost”  and twirling this purple star class card around. I laid my card down and started to text nityam. “hey i’m at the next cruise thing…. do I walk in or make an appointment how does this thing work?” 🤣 Then Anthony noticed me. He starts talking to me. Told him It was my first royal and star class cruise and was wanting to book star class again. As I said this his deck phone was going off with Nityam on the other end. I instantly had an appointment  🧞  I booked our next cruise. May 27th 2023 star class 2 bedroom ATS. He said 9th floor but it looks like the 8th floor when I checked. Who cares it’s star class and it’s not to costa maya 🤣!  I ran and told the hubby he asked how much and I lied and said 15 k vs the 21k it really was 🙃 shh! what he doesn’t know won’t kill him.  He still about choked. Should I now get a TA? How does this work? This is only my third cruise so I am still a newb 🤪
All of a sudden the twin brother who had been complaining wants to book a star class with us. HELL TO THE NO!!! I told him it would probably be like 30-40k for them in an atempt to steer them away from the idea. God bless the genie that gets stuck with them. OY Vey! womp womp womp!  I told David I would switch cruises last minute if they tried to go on ours. I just want it david sasha and I next cruise. Our next cruise is all going to be about saying yes and enjoying our time debbie downer free. 😁 
We got ready for chops. We were sat pretty close to the kitchen which was a bit odd to me. I felt like we couldn’t get to enjoy the ambiance bc we could see servers in and out. My husband loved it as that is his thing.  At one time Shane went back there. I’m guessing he was lashing a cook…. who knows but it didn’t sound good. Someone had royally screwed up someone’s order. Shane’s bag was swinging with a mission when he briskly walked past our table to get to the kitchen. Sasha posing. 

Where have these been all my life!  WEELL HELLO LAVENDER MARTINI MY NEW BEST FRIEND! I had like 4 of them 🤣 They are soo good. I’m trying to figure out where they had to go to get them. 🤷‍♀️ A lady would come in the doors with everyone’s orders and look just famished.  It took a while to get drinks bc of that. I’m guessing they had to catch the fairies in central park and collect their tears to make them. Who knows?!🤷‍♀️ The lavender martinis are damn magical! 🧚🏻‍♀️ 
Oh hello mushroom 🍄 soup. I was soo happy to eat this 🤣 yummy!!! 
Sasha’s face after eating onion bread. She loved her caesar salad. 
I ordered surf and turf. I gave one of my lobsters to the hubby who had ordered a steak.  I remembered to take a pic here after I had ate some. The plate originally looked great just trust me on that. 🤣😋 we didn’t have time for dessert as we had to be at the royal theater for family comedy night. 
So the genie asks us if we want drinks. At this point I would just stop asking and summon to get our order. Lol! He claps his hand in the air and waves down someone. The guy runs for his life as usual lol. He gets our order. Everyone gets their drink and my pinicolada is no where to be found. I did have two glasses of ice. I text nityam and sent him a picture of my “pinicolada”. He says he will get right on it. The lights go down and “enjoy the show!” the show begins. A minute later my phone lights up. it’s Nityam. “look behind you”  I turn around as if someone is about to abduct me. 😳There i see the poor drink guy with 2 pinicoladas in his hands desperately looking for who they go to. I wave my hand and he finds me. 🙂  Gosh I love genies!  So the comedian is joking about how kids are not beat now days. He says “who here gets beat by their parents?” A kid raises their hand 🤣🤣 I legit spit my drink out laughing! If you were sitting in the row below. I am terribly sorry! I was rolling. Sasha and the kids were rolling. This was perfect. It cut the tension and all was good.  The parents were all “no no no we don’t beat our kids.” The kids had stories to tell and told them. The audience was dying at this point. FYI The kids are not beat but what they thought was beating was pretty funny.
After the show was over we raced to the other end of the ship for Aqua!!!
Sasha found one of the hot wheels on the ship. This was in memory of a boy who had been swimming. A freak accident happend. A piece of gravel got kicked up and lodged itself in the kid’s throat and killed the boy. The boy loved hot wheels and all over the world people hide hotwheels in his memory. 
Sasha also had time to ride the last carrousel ride of the cruise. It was shutting down after this ride.  Nityam met us and sat us. Boy was Aqua amazing!  Seriously the highlight of the cruise. 🥰 Here are a few pics with our giving it away. 
More pinicoladas for me. I was feeling good! 💃 We danced our way through the 80’s. One guy said that he had just gotten off of Wonder and this was better then Wonder! We all hugged and went to pack and set our luggage out. Tomorrow was the dreaded disembarkation day. Off to bed! 

 
 

Our Genie said we would not have Hairspray next week.   I think they’re aiming for May.  

Our Genie said we would not have Hairspray next week.   I think they’re aiming for May.  

Our Genie said we would not have Hairspray next week.   I think they’re aiming for May.  

Our Genie said we would not have Hairspray next week.   I think they’re aiming for May.  

Okay, I'm just relieved that this is direction this thread is headed in...

Day 3 Port day 
 
We went to port Costa Maya boooo! I really really really wish that Royal Caribbean would have allowed us to go to our original port of Labadee Haiti. This port was the complete opposite of what I had booked and was sold on. 🤬😡 
 
We woke up to breakfast served not on the balcony because the winds were insane. Our balcony was littered with towels and cushions etc etc. I had messaged the genie the night b4 our breakfast orders and he said that I could only order for star class only but he would try to order family style for us. I told him not to worry as my husbands family were getting on my nerves anyways. I told hubby we would go to coastal kitchen and enjoy ourselves and let them figure out breakfast. They needed to be at our room by 11:15 as the genie would be there to escort us off.
8:30 am comes and my daily morning 2 shots of ginger and starbucks order arrive along with breakfast. everyone’s order was there. I quickly called the family to the room. I soon realize we had lox set ups but no bagels. No worries coastal kitchen was right there and they had 12 hot toasted bagels to the room in seconds. How do they do that?!! 🤷‍♀️🧚🏻‍♀️ Everyone ate bagels and lox…. fried eggs …. avacado toast… bacon…. and berries galore. Lots of coffee was had. We got our back packs ready and to the dot the genie was there at the door ready to escort us.
We got off the boat and made our way to our avery tour meeting spot. We sprayed sunblock on us. We smelled like a bunch of sticky hot buns lol! We had a good time feeding the birds. I took a couple of pics from the hanging rope bridges. The winds were INSANE 60 knots from the captains announcement. 

Once the tour was over we tried to find a table. This was just pure insanity. 3 boats were docked. Oasis… Mardi Gras…. and Carnival Dream. We stole a few tables and chairs for some service. Our server was amazing considering he had like 25 tables. 
The big yellow drink was ordered by everyone but me. I put two and two together. High winds 🌬and a tall skinny cup do not go together. I ordered a beer on draft and enjoyed my burrito while everyone else struggled with their cups. 😎🤣 My mother in law’s cup fell over. I grabbed Sasha’s cup and poured her almost empty cup into a dixi cup that I had ran up and grabbed from the bar. My brother in law gave me smack about it. I just gave him a look and then sat and enjoyed my meal while he kept yelling at his daughter to hold onto her drink 🙃😇 
 
Once the food was done I grabbed Sasha and got her changed to go swimming in the swimming pool at port. The adults took turns watching the little kids while everyone shopped. I could’t find much. The place was packed. I bought turtle souvenirs for my team and called it a day. We all headed back to the room. The moment we got back I made Sasha undress and shower. She had garbage like literal garbage stuck in her bathing suit. I had to scrub her to get all the stuff that was stuck on her off. I’m telling you that water was nasty. 🤮  I ran outside and went zip lining real quick! 
I love the red star class band. I would just walk up to the front and ask in my most sincere desperate I don’t know what I’m doing voice “is there a star class line? 🙃😉immediately I would be ushered to the front as the next person in line. It worked beautiful! I zip lined and didn’t not hold on. I looked down and gave a peace ✌️ sign to my husband who was recording me. Soo cool!!! I then ran in and washed off and got ready for dinner.
 We met Nityam at 150 central park  for dinner. I was dying of heat stroke at this point lol! He had one look at me and said “Alisha what happened!?”  I said I was poached lobster for the night. I was burnt crisp. the sunblock did nothing for me lol. I’m a red head and used to it. I wasn’t burning but it had me hot as hell for the night. 

To start our experience eas the much anticipated cucumber martini. I could drink a gallon of these yummmm! Very refreshing especially when you are a burnt crisp. 🤪😎
my appetizer was the crispy pork belly. I was excited about this but ended up not a fan. It reminded me of my moms burnt pork chops growing up. The fatty part would get crispy. I just felt like it was a thick square of crispy fat with a tiny bit of meat at the bottom. Too fatty for me. Had it been meat with a tinny thin layer of fat I would have probably enjoyed it. 
Hubby had a caesar salad. yummy! 
I had ordered my steak medium. I like a little pink. If you zoom in on this steak on the right side you can see the blood or juice whatever it is already oozing out. The food was dropped off and no one waited for me to cut it. I cut the steak and it squirted blood at me aghh lol! My mashed potatoes were red soaking up the juice. I could not eat it. The middle was cold aghhh. My husband knew immediately it was rare. The server tried to tell me to order medium well from now on. That kind of put me off. My husband hails from hotel hospitality and I cook. I know what medium is and the feel of the steak was not medium. I said “well order it whatever you have to do where it’s warm pink in the middle and blood is not gushing out into my mashed potatoes when I cut in please.”   Anyways they send me a new one and wait for me to cut it. It’s medium rare. It’s legit a bloody mess. I just looked at David and the server as my potatoes are currently soaking up all the juice. I know there is going to be some myoglobin but not a dang river. He said that it was medium. I said “well then no worries I am sure I will enjoy my “medium” steak. Thank you for you assistance tonight! “ I ate the ends of the steak and left the cold red pieces alone. When the server came to grab our plates he saw I didn’t eat my steak or bloody potato’s. He said “I’m soo sorry I can tell you didn’t like your steak.” I said “I’m just not a fan fan of myoglobin gravy for my potato’s it grosses me out.” When your mashed tots are red it’s a bit much  Now hubby like rare steak but not me. I eat steak like once or twice a year other then that it’s fish for me. I’m not a big red meat eater🤮. 
David had fish that was amazing!  
For dessert I ordered fried cheesecake which was to die for but the winner was David’s dessert! 
Oh my goodness the gelato or whatever it was was outstanding. This would have went well with chops lavender martini. I didn’t know yet that the martini existed at this point or else I would have ordered it to go with this divine dessert! Full stomachs we listened as the early aqua show was canceled.  Nityam arrived and told us he had booked CATS for us and we would head to Aqua after. 
CATS you either love it or hate it. I loved it!! The boat was rocking soo much we were swaying left and right. I have no idea how they did their dance moves on such a rocky boat! I enjoyed the show very much so. I am a broadway junky so I figured I would. Sasha loved it as well she was soo into it which was pretty cool to see!!😻😻 At the end of the show they announced aqua was canceled due to the high winds. We were traveling faster then normal bc we had waited at Costa Maya for a number of people and left 45 minutes late.  No worries we went home to relax. I snuck downstairs while everyone was sleeping and listened to the creeky ship. Our room was creeking with all the movement. I loved it.  I took a photo before bed. I’m a hot mess. I resembled my post thermal suite pic from the day before lol! Anyways I lathered up in chilled aloe and hit the bed zzzz. Till the next post! ✌️

OP, you think you're having a bad cruise?  We had someone post on a group page saying that they personally (NOT someone they heard, they themselves) went to Guest Services on Anthem and wanted a 50% refund because the lifeguards at Coco Cay wouldn't let them swim more than halfway to the ropes.  
Now THAT'S a bad cruise.

One of the fun parts of star class is having your favorite beverages in the room ready to go and consistently restocked. During the initial genie communication Berty asked us which of the following we’d like in the room. We also learned from @AshleyDillothat for a room that big refrigerator space is at a premium so we’re going to bring a cooler or cooler bag as we need to keep drinks for 10 people cold. 
 
From Berty:
On a separate note, as a part of the Star Class amenities your minibar beverage selection is included. Kindly let me know what you would prefer in your Suite from the below options.  
  
Evian Water | Still Water | Tonic Water | San Pellegrino sparkling water | Club Soda | Coca-Cola | Diet Coke | Coke Zero | Sprite | Sprite Zero | Fanta | Ginger Ale | Beer: Amstel Light, Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, Corona, Guinness, Heineken, Miller Lite, Stella Artois, Peroni, Michelob Ultra, Grolsch.  
 
May I also ask if you prefer to be greeted with One of the following: Champagne Moet Chandon | Sparkling wine St Michelle or Duc De Valmer | Kendall Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon | Estancia Pinot Noir | Koonunga Hill Chardonnay |Jean-Luc Colombo Les Abeilles | Los Vascos Sauvignon Blanc | Beringer Zinfandel. 

This cruise will be a bit different than most. Ever since my mother in law passed away from lunch cancer in 2008 we’ve been looking for a way to get my wife’s family with us on a cruise or flight to a tropical island. My mother in law, Cathy, always wanted her ashes to be spread in Jamaica or in the Caribbean. I’d love to be able to say it was because of the weather, but we think it’s just because she had a thing for Jamaican guys. 
One of the potential stumbling blocks was going to be having to travel with ashes. However, since we moved to Florida in between booking and now it makes the transportation much easier. Also, being in star class it meant I could communicate with Berty, our genie and have assistance planning a ceremony onboard. I sent Berty a note late last week and he got right back to me with the needs;
-Biodegrable Urn-she had picked out a beachy themed “package” prior to her death so that one was set
-Death Certificate-original or certified copy
-Cremation certificate
Luckily we had all of those handy and sent Berty copies, he also requested we bring them with us just in case. He also is in the process of setting a meeting for embarkation day with the Environmental Officer and/or the Ship’s First officer who will go over scheduling and procedure. Knowing some countries have different laws that can complicate things, I always assumed it would be a sea day. 
As we get more details I’ll be sure to share as I know this often something people think of as they’re planning their wishes. Cathy would be really proud of what her children have become and even though it took way longer than expected, it should be a celebration not a melancholy event. 
 
 
Royal also has a FAQ on the subject for anyone who needs it.
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-is-royal-caribbeans-burial-at-sea-policy

This does sound smarmy.  If you knew, at the beginning of the cruise that your play would yield you nothing, why would you even bother to play ?  That makes no sense.  No incentive to even try.

Currently onboard Symphony and we missed our San Juan stop due to Allure being stuck in port due to a fouled bow thruster. Apparently a mooring line was sucked into the bow thrusters. Passengers on Allure are posting elsewhere that the captain said divers were out and the situation is worse than anticipated. 
 
Nice news for Symphony passengers, we got refundable onboard credit for missing the stop.

Earliest I've seen for my Miami sailings has been 11am.

900 kids on board. 😳 We picked Sasha us from adventure ocean. Sasha (8) came to us crying. It was too much for her. She and Rayne (12) were separated. Lots of kids and and screaming. Looks like who was in charge lost control of the kids. She said kids were grabbing balls from her and not letting her play. She said she couldnt understand anything and the camp instructors weee repeatedly yelling the whole time. We picked her up and at the elevators she hugged me and broke down crying due to being very stressed. I feel terrible. We may skip adventure ocean on a sea day. something to think of if you have kids who are not used to obnoxious kids. 

So have you heard about the PADI 5 star dive centers aboard the ships?  They offer a range of certifications and...

There was a good period where my wife and I thought the Pinacles were scuba sales people because they were always in the Solarium near the scuba desk with what appeared to be name tags on. 

Well, today starts once again with tears but, alas, not over bridgerton. I am officially back in reality, left an aimless shell of a person wandering around my house trying to swipe my sea pass and looking for my genie. As they said in the movie space jam, which I napped through in the royal theater yesterday while my kids watched, “that’s all folks.”
As we effortlessly debarked this morning after a final coastal kitchen breakfast, we reached a point in the terminal where Leroy informed us that he had to leave us. My daughter sobbed and hugged him, and I’m proud to say I managed not to do the same. Barely. It’s amazing how in seven days you can get to attached to someone. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself and dwelling on the sadness of today like a moody viscount torn between love and family duty… oh wait, that’s bridgerton again. Sorry. Let’s go back to the fun - the last day of the cruise!
We basically tried to do everything in that last day to make the most of it - everything indoors, that is, since the one problem with our super convenient, close to home port is the cold weather that shocks you back to reality before they even kick you off the ship. I think I left off in my last entry right before Jamie’s lunch. It was yummy, as usual, though my son scarfed down some pasta and then ran to hang out with his cruise buddies. This was the most pleasant surprise for me on this trip - I didn’t expect him to find such a nice group of kids to hang out with. Leroy stopped by to give my daughter a duck he found, which made her day of course. 
 
We went and got our photos - I pre purchased a 100 photo package with a Black Friday deal, and in retrospect I don’t think we needed it. It was annoying how many photos weren’t included in the package - ifly, other activities. And one of my kids managed to look confused or miserable in pretty much every pic we took that was included. 
 
We then waited to watch the aforementioned space jam (I drew the short straw so I got to go to the movie while my husband went back to the suite to nap). My daughter was standing on the steps and dropped the duck Leroy had just gifted her. It went through the open stairs and disappeared. I searched desperately, even ending up in a crew only area at the bottom of the staircase. Oops. A crew member saw my despairing child and went and got her one of her own collection of ducks, which was so sweet. Just as we were about to move on, we found the original duck on top of a hand sanitizing station, so this ended up being a two for one duck special for my kid. She recounted this dramatic tale to anyone within earshot for quite a while. We settled in for the movie and who should walk in but my son and his cruise buddies. How embarrassing for him. And then who should walk in a minute later? Leroy, summoned by my son for virgin pina coladas. Note to self: if I’m ever lucky enough to have a genie again, do NOT give my kid the genie’s number. 
 
After I slept through the movie (though since Leroy was there anyway I did ask him for an iced coffee), we went to meet my husband to try the royal mystery game. We found out we’re not that good at solving puzzles. Oh well. 
 
My kids wanted wonderland again for dinner, but they were booked, so Leroy brought wonderland to us in the suite. That made things easier anyway since we had to pack up as well. I wrote thank you notes to Leroy, Raj, and Agnel (room attendants) and gave them out, which felt like the beginning of the long goodbye. We got everything packed and put our luggage out in the hall before heading to the 9:15 goodbye variety show. Raj caught us on our way out and gave my daughter a little towel bunny to take home, which she has treated as her most prized possession and hasn’t put down since. 

the show was fun - Joff is a funny cruise director. Frankie and the dreamers were back, this time with an extra dreamer - I guess the third one was quarantined with the other entertainment folks for their first show? Who knows. My son was off living it up with his buds, including coming in second in the ship air hockey competition. My husband had some drinks and kept a watchful eye on the kids as they hung out until midnight (!) while my daughter and I went to bed. When we got back to the room, we discovered presents from Leroy to us - it was overwhelming, really. My daughter got a t shirt featuring her favorite Disney movie, and also one more duck - a green one, since Leroy knows that’s her favorite color. My Lego and video game loving son got Minecraft legos, my husband got a lovely watch and I got a really pretty necklace. It was just too much and that’s when the sadness really hit that this fantasy was coming to an end.

That brings us back to where I started, with sad goodbyes and post-vacation blues. At least we were reunited with our lovable mutt, Bowie  

I don’t know when or if we will find ourselves able to do star class again, but if we can we certainly will, and if you are on the fence about it I’d say it’s really quite special. Thanks for reading my ramblings this week!

I'm sorry to hear you're not having a great time.
Is it possible that since you cruise a lot, you got used to the lower capacity that spoiled us all up until this spring? I know I had to re-adjust my expectations and strategy once capacities starting going beyond 60%. 

Loving this new format!!!    Much easier to find roll calls.   Many thanks to the powers above for the change.  

Loving this new format!!!    Much easier to find roll calls.   Many thanks to the powers above for the change.  

Yesterday we were in Nassau and we stayed on the ship. It was quite the lazy day and I realized I really needed that. We canceled our lunch reservation because we just couldn’t eat another meal, lol. We’re like geese being prepped to become foie gras. 
 
My kids have definitely hit a bit of a wall with the constant togetherness. Their sibling squabbling has reached epic proportions. I bring this up because my first reaction was to get really upset about that and feel like they were ungrateful for this amazing opportunity. Once I calmed down, though, I remembered that they are kids and they will fall apart when they’re overstimulated and tired, and at the end of the day that’s not what they will remember from this trip. I just thought I’d share that for any fellow frustrated traveling parents out there! 
 
My son loved ifly so much and Leroy was able to get him in again. He got to do a flip this time! (With a lot of assistance, of course).

The kids also got to work out their aggression at bumper cars again, though of course that led to a squabble about who was hitting whom too many times. 🤦🏻‍♀️
 
Dinner was Wonderland. I was so nervous about this one with the kids, since my son in particular limits his culinary palette to pizza, chicken nuggets, and grilled cheese. We told them to be open minded and worst case we’d get them sorrentos after. Well, surprise! They loved it. My son ordered an extra order of the branzino because he liked it so much. My daughter loves the cooking competition show “Zumbo’s Just Desserts” and she was SO excited to see desserts like that in real life, especially “the world.” Once again, the restaurant was amazing about accommodating our dietary needs.  My only complaint is they need two of those big throne chairs at each table so my kids didn’t have to fight over who got to sit in it - are you sensing a theme yet? 


After dinner we headed to see a juggler named Scottie as the headliner show. He was quite entertaining and the kids loved it. The ship was really swaying, to the point where I needed my relief band (what a great invention, by the way). I couldn’t believe this guy was on a unicycle juggling knives when I was having trouble walking in a straight line. After the show was bedtime. 
 
Today I continued my routine of working out/ crying over Bridgerton and then getting my latte and croissant at la patisserie. Jonathan and Arun, the cashier and barista at la patisserie, have become my new besties and I love them. We’ll see what today brings … I guess it’s time to head back to the suite and see if my kids have called a truce (unlikely).