Pookie

We received our Genie questionnaire right at the 60 day mark and after thinking about our answers for a couple of weeks, we finally submitted last night.  Things are heatin’ Up!!

Our cruise clothing/must have items staging tote is overflowing.  We will have to cull the herd. My dream goal would be to have a bag like Hermoine Granger on Harry Potter. (Size of a small handbag that she pulled out full size tents, clothes, books etc., for those of you unfamiliar with HP).  But, being as that is less likely than even winning the lotto, I will settle for one carry on and one large tote or backpack.  

I don’t know if we’re more excited about taking our daughter on her first cruise or having Star Class for the first time!

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@Pookie is this thread your blog?  Because if it is, I will move it to the live blog section.

Is it too early to start a live blog?  I heard a rumor that people start their blogs early here

i actually have one started and mistakenly posted my “received the genie questionnaire here by mistake.  What a rookie mistake!

I take pictures of everything so it will definitely be a visual blog...

Received our Genie questionnaire today! 60 days out,  excitement is a brewing...next step Genie roulette...who will it be?

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Riddle me this....

What possible purpose could a “stopper” be on a bidet ?

 

That little “stick thing” in the back is a stopper plunger (not sure what the proper plumbarian term is).

Maybe I’ve been using it wrong all this time ! Why would you ever need to fill that bowl up with water ?

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Riddle me this....

What possible purpose could a “stopper” be on a bidet ?

 

That little “stick thing” in the back is a stopper plunger (not sure what the proper plumbarian term is).

Maybe I’ve been using it wrong all this time ! Why would you ever need to fill that bowl up with water ?

Maybe to mop the floor?

35 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

More lowdown on refurbishments.  Joyce is so wonderful. I’m in love with her already.  She assured me that the drapes ARE new.  She said that all carpeting on the ship was replaced.  
 

Sabrina, JUST for you !  Joyce is going to take pix in 8330 for us. This is one of the suites she is Genie for, this cruise.

 In case anyone was wondering, there is a LOT of bleed over noise from the sail away deck party into our suite.  It’s WAAAY louder than anything in the ATS...even with the doors closed and locked.  It’s early so not a problem right now.  Later, it would be a definite problem. 

I look forward to Joyce!s recon as we have 9330 in February! 

1 hour ago, WannaCruise said:

This is what I'm thinking.  We are leaving soon and am thinking of picking up some silicone straws (we have the drink package for the first time), but am thinking of the logistics... with...as you say....carrying them around and then cleaning them.  I do wear a waist pouch in the day and have a deep purse at night so it "might" work...need to measure and see.  But that is definitely the down side.

My daughter and I ordered collapsible silicone straws that come in a tiny holder with a carabiner and a cleaning brush...will we actually use them?  Time will tell

The pre-planning continues....

An in depth discussion with our 17 year old daughter about the paper straws on board resulted in ordering these: We couldn't imagine trying to swill down a Johnny Rockets malt with any sort of decorum using a soggy paper straw...

50 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Totally get the excitement! We have 30 days to go before we can check into ours. Can’t wait! 

I might have missed it but what star class suite did you get? Or is it a surprise?

We have a 2 bedroom aqua theater suite

Okay fellow hijackers!  We are officially checked in!  I was even able to upload our mugshots with no problems.  We all got a tingly little thrill seeing STAR listed under the class section of our set sail passes!!! It’s starting to get real now!

3 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

If you start one, I will chime in and hijack with my unsolicited thoughts and opinions!

I will do the same as @AshleyDillo 

@RWDW1204  Lucky you!  You get to be on the first cruise after the amplification!  Will you do a blog or a recap for all of us envious cruise wanna bes?

Because we have already had 33.5 inches of snow here in the Mitten State and I am not a big fan of that nonsense, I spend a lot of time thinking about upcoming cruises.  I love reading about people's experiences and living vicariously through them to pass the time.

I'm sure a lot of us have countdown to cruise apps on our phones and I've read in numerous posts "Only 623 or 17 more sleeps until we board!"  

I am currently sitting in my 6 x 8 jail cell (oops, I mean cubicle) at work looking out the window at a dull monochromatic landscape and since I am a numbers person,  I have been thinking of other milestones to use for our countdown to cruise.

Only 3 more hair appointments!

Does anyone else have a fun way for countdown or do you stick to days and/or sleeps?

I have been forcing myself to not lurk...in lurking at the number of views vs the number of replies, lurkers seem to be the majority...

On 11/3/2019 at 3:06 PM, twangster said:

Walking around the marina in almost a full circle you come to that beach we could see from the ship.

Thank you for sharing all of your awesome pictures!  I vacationed in Cabo San Lucas twice back in the late 80's and stayed there almost 2 weeks. It was still somewhat of a sleepy little fishing town at that time...The only thing recognizable is the arch!  One of the activities I did while there was to catch a 95 lb sailfish. It took over 2 hours and I thought my arms were going to fall off! 

I have a few questions regarding our stop at Labadee as a Star Class passenger...

1. What benefits (if any) are extended there?

2.  If there are benefits, is there anything besides excursions or reservations for a cabana to be done ahead of time? 

We currently have an excursion purchased.  I'd love to hear all experiences,  as I try to stay warm while it's snowing here in Michigan... 

Thank you!

I have a question about the shower in the master bathroom in an Aqua Theater Suite.   I saw a comment on a YouTube video that the height in there was only about 6 feet.  This is concerning as I am 5’9” and the Yumster is 6’7”...can anyone confirm?

I believe it opens at the end of January.  However we are on the Western Carribean run for our cruise....

@S0nny  Tesla was on my short list, but didn’t make the top 3.  My daughter however picked him, Elon Musk and Post Malone.  The hubster is still thinking about his.  We are definitely nerds...LOL

The Yumster and I spend a lot of time laughing and being absurd.  I found a copy of the initial questionaire and typed it into a document to compile our answers at our leisure.  Added bonus, it draws out the excitement of the cruise, because as we all know, you board the ship and it seems like you blink your eyes and you are already disembarking.

To the question, "If you could invite 3 people-famous or infamous—throughout history for a dinner party, who would you invite?"

My answers (and I know they really don't mean anything, but it is fun to think about...):

Lucille Ball for laughs.

Leonardo DaVinci for intellectual thoughts.

Tom Selleck for eye candy. 

What are some of your dinner guest picks?

That I did not need to pack so many clothes.  

Regarding the information of all the sources I have found, there appears to be varying accounts of what and what is not included with Star Class.  For instance, I booked and prepaid for the sushi making class and also the behind the scenes tour.  I'm wondering if I made an error in doing so.  We also thought we would make our dinner reservations, but the cruise planner wants to charge us.  This resulted in me calling RCCL and being told to go ahead and book, they will refund once on board.  I had a feeling I would end up with a bunch of onboard credit if I booked the restaurants.  Definitely didn't want that...

Common sense says RCCL should have code written in to link cabin type with the cruise planner,

and would open up a whole other conversation about their horrible website...

We are on deck nine also, port side.

Yes!  I will follow along!  Our cruise is Feb 9th...

In early 2018, while on Adventure of the Seas partaking in a few adult beverages, the hubster (who I affectionately call Yummy) and I booked our upcoming cruise in February with Next Cruise. Typically, we book suites of one sort or another.  This time, in our "happy & relaxed" state, we chose an Aqua Theater Suite on Oasis of Seas, (choking somewhat on the cost!) as a surprise for our daughter for her graduation from high school. (This will be her first cruise).  At that time, perks were mentioned, but as the cruise was two years out, we did not remember what was said.  (We claim to this day it was not the fault of our refreshments.)

We are almost down to the ninety day mark and we've been reading/watching videos for every scrap of information we can find about Star Class/Royal Genies.  The Live Blogs are a particular favorite. We have combed social media for pics of the drydock process.  Our excitement knows no bounds and we are like little kids who have had too much candy!  I have a tote started with items to go, computer lists... we have vowed to not OVERPACK.  We have vowed to be ORGANIZED for our Genie so he/she will not have to struggle with what we hope to achieve.  I hope to Live Blog and will probably start out doing so. After the first day...who knows... 

I sent this GIF to my daughter this morning with the fact that there will be less than 60 Star Class passengers on board:

We would never act this way, but I do wonder if we will feel this way....BAHAHAHA

I would like to thank @WAAAYTOOO, @SweetPea and @Lovetocruise2002 for all the great information they have provided! 

I hope to provide an account of what our experiences are for future Star Class cruisers.

Pookie  (Yummy's pet name for me.)

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