Tiffeven

We are on the road again.  Today, we only have about a 6.5 hr drive, but between stopping for the kids and the bad weather, it will probably take us closer to 9 hrs.  Alan emailed us last night with a tentative schedule, and we responded back with any modifications that needed to be made.  This was a welcome surprise, since last time, Jay didn't give us our schedule until we were onboard and there was a lot of last minute changes that had to be made.  Another difference between Jay and Alan is Alan also sent us a list of the entertainers and their biographies today.  Perhaps Jay didn't because it was the shortened Allure cruise due to Hurricane Dorian and everything was out of the ordinary.  I am going to attach the list of entertainers.  We plan on seeing the comedians but usually skip the Headliner.  This time we are thinking about seeing the Headliner.  Are any of you familiar with him or the other comedians?  If so, would you recommend them?  We are getting very excited for embarkation tomorrow and are extremely pleased with Alan's communication thus far.

We left this morning around 10am and were immediately met with a 50 minute construction delay in the Great Smoky Mountains.  After finding out Alan loves chocolate, we stopped in Asheville to visit the Lindt Chocolate Shop.  We got him a cute champagne bottle of assorted Lindor truffles.  Now the kids are wired on chocolate, and I should be wired between the chocolate and the Starbuck's venti caramel brulee frappuccino I just had, but all I want to do is nap.  Wish I had half the energy, that the kids have.

2 minutes ago, Big Tule said:

Never have I seen something so true!

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Be afraid.  Be very afraid

Last time, I was sure that I would be atleast 10 lbs heavier than when I left, but, to my surprise, I didn't gain any weight.  I guess I can thank the long trek from the aquatheater suites for that, especially since Adventure Ocean is completely forward on the ship. 

2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Yuck!  Port Everglades isn't a pretty port to sit and stare at either.  At least you'll have plenty to do and eat! 

Have a safe drive down!

Thanks.  Yeah, it's kind of a bummer.  Guess, we'll have to console ourselves with food.  Thankfully, there is plenty of that.  Star Class food coma here we come!

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That schedule change will suck for casino players.  The casino will be closed the entire first day and night.  I understand the need ...hopefully some of the prop issues will be resolved.

I agree.  We aren't big casino players, but enjoy playing the quarters machine and a few slots here and there.  We almost always hit the casino the first night after dropping the kid's off at Adventure Ocean, so it is a little disappointing having to change our usual cruise traditions.  Speaking of changes, I messaged Alan to see if there would be any changes with muster drill time and opening time of Adventure Ocean, and he informed us they would occur at the usual time.  Right now, it seems the biggest changes will be not getting to watch sail away (2am is way past our bedtime) and the casino and shops opening.

We decided to take everyone's advise and leave Friday instead of driving all day on Saturday.  This should make the drive a lot more bearable and also means we can leave a day early and out run the cold.  We got about two inches of snow which is nothing for most of y'all but for this Southern girl, that is way too cold.  Steven, being originally from Maine, didn't mind it and the kids enjoyed playing in the snow.

We also got an email from RCI today stating that we would be leaving at 2am Monday morning instead of 4:30pm Sunday afternoon.  This is due to routine maintenance and does not impact when we can board the ship or our itinerary just the time that we leave Port Everglades.

On 11/12/2019 at 11:13 AM, Dimension said:

My wife and I will be on our Oasis cruise for November 4, 2020 sailing. This will be our first time on an Oasis class ship.

I'm really looking forward to the November 4th sailing on Oasis.  I can't wait to see her after amp.  You will love the Oasis class ships.  They are beyond amazing.

47 minutes ago, Srp431 said:

Thanks for sharing this was really interesting. Maybe someday we'll be able to go star class. The highest suite we had has been sky class

We always watch for good deals and book when we find them or reprice during good sales.  When we were on Allure in September, we were chatting with a couple who was Sky Class.  They were new to Royal and didn't know about Star, so when they saw our genie, they asked us about it and how much we paid.  Turns out they paid more for Sky Class than we did for Star. 

49 minutes ago, rjac said:

101st ABD? If not proud he served, as did I. Please have a great cruise! 

Thank you!  1AD, next duty station was actually going to be screaming eagles before I retired.  Thank you for your service as well.

We are officially down to the single digit countdown, so we figured it was time to get our butts in gear.  Today, we finished packing and did our pre-cruise spring clean.  Now, we are just trying to decide if we want to leave Friday or Saturday.  We will be driving from Tennessee, so it is a twelve and a half hour drive, but with babies, it usually takes much longer.  If we leave Friday, we can finally try La Bamba.  We will be staying at Holiday Inn Express and Suites Airport West in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, and if we leave Friday, we will just find a hotel when we get tired.

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This is very interesting. I didn’t think the Genies had any option to purchase cabanas for SC anymore.  Good info

1 minute ago, CGTLH said:

Not really the Genie offering/selling the cabanas. It is the Private Journey group trying to make the sale.

CGTLH is correct.  It wasn't the genie just the Private Journey's team, but I don't think I would have received that email had I not been Star class.  He also offered to set up private tours if we are interested, but we're not.

Alan has been super responsive in our email exchange.  We also received an email from Fabian Mendez, who is part of the Private Journey team with Royal Caribbean, asking if we wanted to reserve a cabana on Perfect Day CocoCay before they sell out.  For this sailing the following cabanas are available:

Thrill Waterpark Cabanas for $499 USD, Oasis lagoon and Chill Island for $999 US

We threw around the idea of getting a cabana but decided against it, since we didn't want to keep the babies out in the heat all day.

51 minutes ago, JVPIII said:

Would you share your requests? Trying to get an idea what to ask for.

Here is a screenshot of the list we sent Alan.  He read through it and said everything would be taken care of.

31 days out and we received our genie email!  Even though I knew it was going to be Alan, I still got super excited when I saw it in my inbox.  Last time, we received our email at 28 days, so I have been checking my email almost nonstop for the past few days.  There's something about receiving the genie email that makes it seem more real.  I responded to the email with a pdf of snacks we like, our daily routine, places we want to eat and ones we want to skip, and shows and activities that we are interested in.  I really was not expecting a reply so soon, but Alan already replied.  He seems responsive and enthusiastic, and we are very much looking forward to meeting him.

6 hours ago, Andrew72681 said:

Sounds like a plan. One other thought I had was having different snacks along the way in the star class cabins on the crawl. Any idea how the genie assignments usually go? Both being in AQ suites do you think we’ll have the same genie?

It really depends.   Usually the genies have certain cabins that they look after, and unless you request a certain genie, you get whichever one is assigned to your cabin.  For example, on the November 17, 2019 sailing, Anna is in charge of 10330 and Alan is in charge of 10730, so just because we are both staying in Aquatheater suites does not mean that we have the same genie.  What I can tell you from my limited Star class experience is that the genies work very well together, so even if we have different genies, it shouldn't be a problem having them coordinate together.

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m somewhat concerned after reading accounts of Genies who would not coordinate the Cabin Crawls without a fee.  Maybe the days of gala Cabin Crawl parties is over.  I sure hope not.  It was a wonderful service.  I’m not saying it isn’t a lot of work for the Genies.  It is.

Maybe the new strategy should be NOT to mention Cabin Crawl at all.  Just request food and drinks without mentioning the reason.

We were definitely disappointed when Jay told us we'd have to pay for the food for our cabin crawl, but like I said there was 59 of us, so maybe, it was because of such a large group.  When we had friends over to play cards against humanity one evening, they had no problem delivering food.  We asked for light snacks as it was only four of us and they showed up with a ton a food and beer.  Granted, our friends were also Star class, so there was two genies coordinating snacks.  I wonder how much different it would have went over if I had just ordered a bunch of snacks rather than mentioning it was for a cabin crawl.  Maybe that's what we should do @Andrew72681 next November. 

On 10/7/2019 at 5:01 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Eating specialty restaurant food on the balcony is one of those perks that you canNOT get anywhere except Star Class. Take advantage of it while you can.  Breakfast out there is positively decadent.

100% agree.  We had breakfast on our balcony every morning and a few times for second... make that third dinner.  

1 hour ago, Andrew72681 said:

Definitely, and after reading @WAAAYTOOO’s master class on cabin crawls we definitely need one of those as well. 

Yes, we do.  We will have to set something up on our cruise critic group.

Steven: I've been trying to symbolize my wives last Star Class experience on my first true comment here. Here I go...

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 

I have the A2 for Oasis in March 2020! Down to 5 months dry dock now.

That's awesome!  I can't wait to read your blog.  It will help me pass the days until our November 2020 Star Class.  I probably read your "I Dream of Genie" blog five times while we were waiting for our September cruise.

8 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

We’re doing one of those in November 2020 as well. On that cruise @Tiffeven is right below us. 

I'm so excited about that cruise.  Revamped Oasis is going to be awesome.  We definitely should try to get our genies to coordinate the escape room , so our ten year olds can join.

19 minutes ago, Jaymac Radio said:

I Will Be Following This One. Have A Great Cruise On Allure.

Thanks.  Glad to have you following along.

29 minutes ago, DJsMrs said:

We have two more booked after this

5 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

We also had three more SC cruises booked even before we took our first one! 

Even booking is addictive.   We have three more Star class booked after this and seven on ships that don't have Star class.  I need to delete Royal out of my phone, I feel like I book a new cruise everytime there is a new sale.

54 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

Following along as well. I have to wait for February 2021 for our first star class experience. We will also be in a 2BRATS, except on Oasis.

You are going to be spoiled.  I understand how waiting feels like eternity as we had to wait about 11 months between our last cruise and our September 1st cruise due to pregnancy (can't cruise after 24 weeks pregnant) and waiting for the littlest one to turn six months.  Once we got on board... or rather, once we met the genie in the terminal, we realized how much the wait was worth it.  Just keep yourself busy with blogs and youtube vlogs, and it will be here before you know it.