Jax

Update on pre cruise communication with our genie Andres So far my interactions with Andres have exceeded the mediocre experience from Royals main customer service group. I heard from Andres on Sunday, I replied the same day and heard back from him again this morning. ?? Andres and I are off to a great start! What kind of things did Andres want to know? A list of our “must haves” Port arrival time and boarding procedure Mini bar requests Information on our preferred dining times, entertainment and activities Any special celebrations ? What has Andres done so far? For some reason the cruise planner would not allow me to reserve the thermal suite even though it shows as available. The main call centre couldn’t help. When I told Andres this was a “must have” for us, he reassured me that he would take care of it once on-board! for Andres. We expect to arrive at the cruise terminal around 10:30am and Andres said he will try to have our suite ready early. Andres (even though we are totally fine exploring the ship and eating lunch I appreciate the effort and it would be nice to get unpacking out of the way) Andres confirmed that you cannot go up in North Star until last bridge has been cleared but he will make arrangements for us to do this immediately following that! Andres Pepsi is my drink of choice but I said I am totally fine with Coke. Andres said he would try to get Pepsi for me. Andres Andres has already confirmed he will sign me up for cupcake decorating class (complimentary for star class) and Lindsay and Reyd for sushi class (also complimentary) and bridge tour for all 3 (complimentary for star class). Andres Holiday menus have not yet been finalized but I will receive a draft dining/entertainment schedule closer to sailing. All in all I am feeling pretty good about everything.

I had a friend that picked up a My pillow in store without realizing they needed to complete the “find your fill level” on the My Pillow website to find their color. (Yellow, white, green or blue) You may find yours too fluffy because of the fill level not being a good fit for you. Your recommended color is determined by several factors shown below in picture. Or it may just not be the right pillow for you. ?

Have a great time @WAAAYTOOO Will be following along.

“My pillow” has been a game changer for me. I use to to travel with my king size “my pillow” but then I saw their travel size version and am going to give it a try. Totally worth trying in my opinion. No more sore and stiff necks.

Big day ..... I heard from our royal genie. ???? Our genie is Andres. For those new to star class like me, here is what I received.

Just heard from our genie.....it is Andres

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I thought I would share our list of “must take” travel items. What’s on your list?? “My Pillow” travel size - I can’t rave enough about how My Pillow has improved my overall quality of sleep. Love their travel size version. Saje pocket pharmacy is a remedy convenience kit consisting of peppermint halo, immune, eaters digest, stress release and pain release. I carry immune with me at all times as it acts as a disinfectant .. I put it under my nose on the airplane and use it as a hand sanitizer. There is so much eating on cruises that sometimes eaters digest comes in handy! I never leave home without this pocket pharmacy; it’s nice and compact and made for travel. Dr Ho’s Pain therapy system can help relieve most pain and is compact enough that it is easy to take with you. We have used it while traveling on sore feet, back and neck. It’s a game changer. Mouthwash. I know it may sound weird to take this with you but we learned from experience that not all cruise lines sell mouthwash. On our last Disney Cruise my hubby realized he forgot his mouthwash. When we contacted our concierge host we were told that it was not available on the ship. As only Disney can, we had mouthwash delivered to our stateroom within the hour. We later learned it came from our concierge host’s personal supply. It made for some fun laughs with our concierge host and her husband throughout our cruise. And yes, my husband was mortified when he learned they gave us their mouthwash. ? The next 2 items are from Beauty Counter, a company that offers safe products without the harmful and toxic ingredients found in so many of our beauty care products. Beauty Counter Cleansing balm - has many uses but we use it if we get a bit too much sun. It takes any redness and pain away. Sunscreen is a must. This offers the same protection while not compromising on safety. Have a great Sunday everyone and for those in Canada planning to watch the Grey Cup enjoy!! It’s expected to be 4 degrees in Calgary today with chinook winds

Hey guys. 26 days till we leave and 28 until we board the Anthem. I should be hearing from our genie any day! Until then I have been busy finalizing pre and post cruise hotel accommodations and transportation. I feel like I have spent a lot of time on this but reliable transportation and a great hotel and location is important to us. Hoping some of this may help you with your future planning. Hotels: I quickly realized I underestimated the cost of hotels in NYC over Christmas but booking early has helped offset a portion of these costs. I started booking as early as last January and February. I focused on location and our preferred hotels but soon realized that 2 double beds is the norm in NYC when travelling with a family. Downsizing from a king to a queen is a stretch but losing another 6 inches...? As a result we have made some compromises to ensure we were able to stay at our preferred properties. Pre cruise we settled on 2 doubles with a double sleeper sofa and post cruise we have a king with a sleeper sofa. In both cases the sleeper sofa mattress has been recently upgraded to a memory foam mattress for added comfort. More to follow on the bed situation I am sure! Transportation: I was overwhelmed by the number of transportation options available so I read lots of reviews and eliminated all those with consistently crappy reviews. (I was surprised how many bad reviews there were) For us reliability was more important than price. We will have 4 checked bags so that means an SUV for us at a higher cost. If you can keep your luggage to 3 or less you can definitely save money. If you are wondering who I booked with: Airport from JFK to Manhattan and return - NY City Limo $134 + tip each way. Driver meet and greet in airport. Manhattan to Cape Liberty Cruise terminal and return - Dial 7. $119 + tip + toll each way. Feel free to pass along any transportation raves!

Thanks @GlassSlipper for your suggestion to pre purchase museum tickets and for sharing your favourite dining places. ? Looks like a fun night out!

So with less than a month to go I am planning pre cruise activities. What pre cruise activities have you done in NYC? I have broken up our stays...Pre cruise we are staying in lower Manhattan for walking access to 911 Memorial, One World Observatory and Stadium Goods. Post cruise we are staying at Central Park. Pre Cruise: I generally like to avoid pre booking activities in favour of spontaneity, but I think I will make an exception and book the Pre-Fixe menu to at One Dine at One World Observatory. I worry it will sell out if I don’t. It offers priority and all inclusive access, a dedicated time, and a 2 course lunch. General admission is $45 pp if you want a scheduled time so $70 for a 2 course lunch (includes 18% gratuity) and all the other benefits seems pretty reasonable. We love dining at the Calgary Tower (626 feet) so One World Observatory (1776 feet) is something that we will are all looking forward to. Stadium Goods (speciality shoe store) is only a short walk from our hotel and is on my sons todo list...in Canada Yeezy’s are almost impossible to buy and shipping, duty and exchange to Canada is a killer. So this will be a great way for Reyd to check them out and possibly save us shipping and duty. Will try to fit in the statue of liberty but we only have 1 full day pre cruise so that’s probably all we can fit in. Still working on post cruise activities but disappointed that the Rangers aren’t in town. ?

How exciting.....enjoy!! ?

Does anyone else struggle with the number of checked bags when they cruise? I think it’s because we have evening wear, day wear, beach wear and sometimes even winter wear . (We are under a snowfall warning today ?) Add in pre cruise and post cruise land stays and it can be overwhelming. Our family always gets the unlimited digital photos so we try to avoid rewearing certain clothing items. I was determined to find a solution so I started looking into packing cubes. I purchased Lug packing cubes from Costco.ca as they offered the best price. I did a practice with my evening cruise wear and am impressed with the results! 7 pairs of slacks and 10 tops and sweaters fit easily into 1 large and 1 medium cube with plenty of room in suitcase. I think these cubes may be a great solution. I will report more when I actually pack but they look promising. Star class guests get laundry services provided so this will help reduce the amount of certain clothing items as well. Anyone have experience with packing cubes that they want to share??

Does anyone else love picking out your families Christmas Jammie’s? These are for my hubby and son this year. Christmas Vacation movie is a family favourite in our house. As this is our first holiday cruise, we are not sure whether Christmas movies will be playing on board but I will definitely download and take this with us, just in case. I think I will ask our Genie about access to Christmas movies ?.

Thanks for passing this information along! I will let you know who our genie is when I know.

The luggage bag tags are slightly different on Royal than DCL so I wanted to get bag tag holders that would protect against rips and other damage. These ones from amazon.ca arrived super fast with amazon prime and are compatible with Royal Caribbean. A perfect fit! Would highly recommend.

Great information @WAAAYTOOO!! We had planned to ask our Genie to do North Star while in port at Bayonne but your explanation makes total sense. We are from Alberta so we Beef! Will inquire about the filet night in CK when we hear from our Genie. Am just in the process of finalizing limo transportation to cruise terminal so I will be sure to make sure our driver stays in the right lane and we will NOT surrender our bags to anyone except a Star Class porter. Your tips are much appreciated! BTW I am still figuring out this blog and am having difficulty directly replying to you. Thanks for your patience as I figure this all out!!

@WAAAYTOOO thanks for your sharing your perspective on Q vs O class. We are definitely looking forward to taking in all the activities Anthem has to offer so it’s good to know the Genie will be a big help! Any tips on luggage at Cape liberty cruise port for star class guests I should be aware of?

@Lovetocruise2002 thanks so much for sharing your blog...I will read it today and let you know if I have any questions!

We are counting down until our first star class cruise on Anthem of the Seas. We are new to Royal Caribbean; previous DCL concierge cruises so we can’t wait to experience Royal Caribbean. I really enjoy following along on as many star class blogs as I can and thought it may be fun to give it a try! So, I am Jacquie and my husband Lindsay and 14 year old son Reyd are counting down (34 days). We are from Calgary, Alberta. ?? So what made us pick Royal Caribbean....honestly New York was on our bucket list and we love to cruise so we thought why not! Once we narrowed it down to New York, the royal genie and visit to Coco Cay helped us choose Royal Caribbean. So far the experience has been good. The one notable difference is DCL offered a dedicated team to deal with Pre Cruise needs/questions for their concierge guests 120 days out which I really liked. I haven’t been super impressed with Royal’s main customer service team but I am hopeful that the Genie will make up for any shortfalls! We received the royal genie questionnaire 45 days out followed by our luggage tags a couple days later. From what I have read I should be hearing from our genie soon. Cruise Itinerary: 8 nights with stops in Port Canaveral, Coco Cay and Nassau. Stateroom: Grand loft suite #10320 Shore Excursions: Reserved Chill Island Cabana at Coco Cay back in January. Had hoped to get an overwater cabana but opening was delayed to January 2020. ? Cruise Planner: With the Royal Genie, there is not much to plan but I have ordered the unlimited photo package. Will finalize specialty dining, entertainment and on-board activities with our genie. Thinking about reserving the thermal suite but have read mixed reviews. Any feedback on Anthem’s thermal package would be appreciated! We always reserved this on DCL so will likely book it on Anthem. Flights: Flying direct from Calgary to JFK a couple days before our cruise. Pre Cruise we are staying in lower Manhattan as we want to visit the 911 Memorial. Post cruise we are staying at Central Park. I am in the process of finalizing transportation to Cruise terminal and would be interested to hear any recommendations on reliable limo companies. We do not pack light so an SUV will be needed! The Four Seasons Downtown uses Empire CLS Transportation but I am pretty sure I can arrange something for cheaper. Planning to arrive at cruise terminal around 10:30am. Royal Genie Questionnaire: Have read mixed reviews on whether the genie uses the information provided but I am keeping an open mind. We had fun completing it and have no expectations. I have attached a copy of the questionnaire for those that are interested. Royal Up : Received a Royal Up offer email about a month ago for the Royal loft suite. I put in a lower end bid and expect it to be declined which I am totally fine with. We really don’t need the additional space but the hot tub would be nice. Well I think that’s all for now. Look forward to answering any of your questions and having you follow along!

12/20/19 Anthem - First time Star Class, first time RCI