SuperNinja

So, here we are 3 days from the cruise, and I now have the wonderful task of trying to pack ??.  Probably one of my least favorite things to do, a strong second to unpacking.  But I have suitcase number 1 completed, and then I checked my email....and who is it.... Sunil.  He has magically appeared lol.  
 
He addressed all the prior emails, and provided me with the schedule for dining etc.  Couple notes, 1- found out they will not confirm the various events and parties for the 50th Birthday until the day before embarkation (bummer), and then 2- Wish not granted (I asked for either Smart Water or Essentia instead of Evian). However Voss was offered, but I’m personally not a fan other than Sparkling Voss.  But, Not really a disappointment for me, just asked to see if it could be done.  But I live in Miami, so I can just bring it with me, so that’s an easy fix.
Im still a little anxious to see how this “at the port experience” goes, as I’m used to handing the bags off from the car, now I have to make to conscious effort to keep everything. But for now, starting to feel a little excitement, (like a little kid) “it’s almost here”.  
 
My intent is to try and add details of what happens and photos along the way, of the experience, the room, etc.      For sure, as a first time (Definitely not the last time) star class cruiser, this will be quite interesting 

You can put them on but if you forget it, they can tag it for you too. As @WAAAYTOOO always says, keep your bags with you and it doesn’t really matter. Lol. We did tag ours.

@SuperNinja enjoy your cruise! 
 

Sunil is awesome. Don’t worry. 

5 Days out......FINALLY!!   Now if only I could get the genie to respond to my emails !!!

There was an all white and an all red party on different nights. I didn’t attend the white but I did attend the red. It was fun, music could have been better.

Oddly enough, I have sent him at least two-three emails within the last two weeks and I haven't received a response back yet.  I asked about the special things going on, the embarkation snack items for the room and a couple other things, and he hasn't said anything back as yet. 

Powerade and Red Bull can be arranged, just put in a request with the Genie. Now a particular flavor isn't a guarantee. Still for a particular flavor it would be best to request as far out as possible. That way it could possibly ordered or the Genie have a "grocery run" for it.
Same would apply with the water, once again no guarantee.
My personal experience, requested hard seltzer and diet Dr. Pepper. Both of those "wishes" while taken they were unable to be granted. Don't recall the excuse, personally I think they had some challenges with the timeline coming from Europe.

In addition to what @CGTLH said, they can probably also get you Acqua Panna. Whatever you are after, it would not hurt to ask. You never know what the Genie can manage. Hubby asked for Pepsi and they couldn’t get that. However, they did manage to get Doritos, Oreos, and Kit Kat, which I know they don’t usually stock on-board. 

We sailed the last two cruises in the RLS. I don't recall on the Allure but I know on Harmony this year there was a second "refrigerator" upstairs. And yes it's all the way on the left side. 

1.  Sorry.  Can't help you on this one.  Never been in a RLS even for a visit.
2.  This is a very sensitive subject.  The Genie is technically only supposed to provide service to Star Class passengers.  Having said that, I have never had a Genie fail to accommodate any other friend (never taken any family with me) that I happened to be traveling with.  I would expect for the Genie to tell you that all non-SC passengers will be charged.  This may or may not actually happen.  It's really a toss-up.  Technically, however, non-SC pax would be charged.  Just be prepared for that.
3.  I always make sure that at LEAST embarkation day rezzies are made prior to sail date although it would not be a problem for the Genie to get you reservations anywhere you want to eat.  It's up to you.  I always like knowing that at least my first night's plans are set.

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i could not be happier with Sunils performance so far.

Hope you’re enjoying your cruise....... how’s Sunil?

No. It’s one of those paper type adhesive bands. Not too glamorous. Lol.

@SuperNinja found this from my star class blog. It looks like this:

Not that I have heard recently.  

Had black both times I was in Star in this year.  Never used them though....card was easier for the way I roll.  ?

I just thought of something. If your goal is to wear something distinguishing so that some of the crew are aware that you are star class without having to carry around the plum card and flash it, then there is a red wrist band that you can get from the activity desk next to the flow riders. You’re supposed to use this to skip the lines for the flowrider, zip line, abyss etc. When the crew saw it they knew we were star class. For instance when walking up to the crowded Aquatheater before Hiro the staff saw the red band and let us in without having to take out the card.

I have Sunil as my royal genie next week October 12 sailing. His pre-cruise communications are almost non-existent so don’t expect to get much planned with him before boarding. I’ll let you know how he is when we board. 

Here's an example of the default spread we were given without making any special requests. Some of the hors d'oeuvres were interesting, but pretty standard stuff. Couldn't decide between Jamie's or Playmakers for lunch so we just ordered from both and had it sent to the room.

We did Playmakers for lunch on the first day on Symphony.  It was a perfect start to the cruise.  No need to worry about reservations or anything. 
We boarded early (as soon as the ship was cleared) and we were taken to our room.  The Genie had the room stocked with the pre-requested beverages when we arrived and I think there was a dish with some random hors d'oeuvres that were probably a suite thing.  I think if you get onboard early and go straight to your room it may be a little premature to expect food requests upon arrival.  I know when we returned from lunch on embarkation day there was food in the room and pretty much from there on for the entire rest of the cruise there was food waiting for us in the room when we returned in the afternoon.  Any time we came across something that we wanted, we just let the Genie know and she took care of it. 
I know sometimes you will read about the Genies proactively pre-empting a request but you can't expect that.  You can't be disappointed that an unspoken request was not fulfilled.  Don't worry about feeling too demanding; if you want something just ask.  It can be very specific -- we requested the grilled shrimp from Hooked one day as we hadn't tried it when we ate there and then when we returned from our show we had 4 plates full of them waiting in our room.  I found a salami on a charcuterie board that I liked during a cabin crawl and we took a photo and sent it to the Genie and ended up with that in our room as a snack. 
They do have access to SeaPass accounts and review any charges, so they sometimes can garner a preference based on that..even from your no charge drinks that you get out and about the ship.  But sometimes if you don't say anything you aren't giving them much to work with.  
If they don't offer it, you can ask them to place a room service order for hot breakfast in the morning to be delivered to the room.  Ours set it up as a standing order and then every evening we could let her know if we wanted something different.  You could even order bloody marys or mimosas to be delivered with breakfast..or Starbucks!
If you have any interest in the special classes onboard (cupcake decorating, sushi making, escape room) then let them know in your response to their introduction email so they can incorporate that into your schedule.  You may not hear anything from them but that first day they will have an itinerary with your scheduled show times, meal times, classes, excursions, etc. and will go over it with you and allow you to make changes.  You can ask them to send you the Coastal Kitchen menus if you want to use those to make a decision on which night you choose to eat there.  If you have private tours or are traveling with a group you can share your pre-scheduled events and they will work around all of those as well.

We tried SC for the first time on a 7-Night Oasis sailing on May 27th, 2018. In case it helps, I dug up our pre-cruise communications timeline with our Genie:
Apr 11th: We received a generic email asking us to complete the SC questionnaire
Apr 25th: We received a personalized email from Smitha, our Genie (who turned out to be wonderful),
Her email provided info on her Genie hours (and when she's "in her lamp" and unavailable), a reminder of all the amenities that come with SC, a request for information on our arrival plans (so she could schedule/meet us) as well as minibar and arrival drinks preferences, and some info/prices on cabanas at Labadee (if we wanted to book one).
May 3rd: She confirmed our preferences that I sent in an Apr 28th email (with apologies for a slightly delayed response, as she'd been tending to current guests).
May 5th: She sent detailed information on the arrival process, her mobile number, and more detailed info on specialty restaurants (including all menus), Voom info, etc, as well as a list of restaurants we could choose from for lunch on Day 1. Based on our previous responses, she also sent a personalized dinner itinerary, including times she had booked for us at each restaurant as well as the headliner show times. THIS WAS GREAT. 
May 16th: She confirmed a few tweaks to dining times that I sent on May 14th and answered my other questions (when is formal night, what's the deal with the handcrafted cocktail cart, etc). She also confirmed our arrival time of 11a and reminded us of what to do when we got to the port.
And that was it -- everything that we cared to plan pre-cruise was done about a week and a half before boarding.
Once we got to the port, we just followed the directions to Star Class and Smitha was there to escort us to our suite. So easy. She did a great job on the cruise, with just the right amount of contact for our preferences, as we'd let her know that we don't like much fuss. And she was fantastic with our boys who were 12 and 13 -- we hadn't told them about SC or a Genie or anything, and they were utterly confused during the entire boarding process and delighted for the rest of the trip, lol!
We didn't arrange a reception, so I can't provide feedback there. Other advice? Just be very clear what you want -- the Genies are trained to help and it's their job, but they're not mind readers (although it may seem like it at times). If you're not sure if something's possible or if there would be a charge for something, just ask. Your Genie will want to help, and will if possible. 
Lastly, we thought we'd been spoiled with SC, but amazingly enough we've managed to enjoy our non-SC cruises since then... ?   But truth be told, we're counting the days until our 13-night Ovation SC cruise in April 2021! And I know we'll want to throw some parties on that cruise, so I'm looking forward to reading your post-cruise report!! ?
Have a fantastic trip!
 

I recommend you do not give your luggage to ANY porter even if they claim to be a Star Class porter. We once had to retrieve our bags from the so-called Star Class porter and it was a Charlie Foxtrot.  Keep your bags with you. Don’t give them to anyone except the Genie. Tell the Genie you want your bags to stay with you.  Period.  It’s important that you let the Genie know before embark day that you will be keeping your bags with you.  Don’t ask....TELL them. Trust me....they CAN put even the big suitcases through the scanner.  They will get a Terminal porter to take your luggage up to the gangway and then a ship’s porter will take the bags with you to your suite.  If you are in a Loft, have them take the bags upstairs.
Your request for fruit and drinks on embarkation is perfect. But you need to let them know that’s what you want, so you’re going to need to communicate with them !  It’s completely unsatisfactory for your Genie not to be communicating with you.  If you aren’t getting emails from him, I would escalate this issue immediately to the ship’s Hotel Director. No emails from the Genie is not acceptable. 

+1 for being upfront with all of your requests. Many of the complaints that I have heard come from people having certain expectations in their minds and not being clear about what they want.
As far as the luggage, at most terminals, the second you get out of the vehicle, a porter will try to take your luggage. For Star, we just let them know that we were star, and the curb side porter grabbed another porter who was a star class porter. We waited with our bags until then. We the star class porter came along, we confirmed with him that he was indeed a star class porter and we knew that he was legit when he loaded all our luggage onto a cart and told us to come along with him and the luggage. From there he took us to the star class rep at the terminal.

I'd probably go ahead and put in your initial requests in response to the introduction email. So far both Genie's I've had really like the "chatty" ones. They might be great at what they do, but they aren't mind readers. More information and requests you can give up front the better.
For luggage, at the terminal you'll see a Star class purple banner/flag. Best thing to do is find terminal personnel near that banner/flag and have them summon a porter. Under no circumstance should you give your bags to a random porter.
For Symphony you'll want to be dropped off by the front doors of Terminal A. Otherwise haul your bags to that point. Personnel will try and divert you to the drop off zone prior to the entrance. Best bet is to have the driver tell them you're Star class and was told to be dropped off at the front entrance.