WAAAYTOOO

Always

I'm certainly not referencing this to anyone....this is just my personal opinion, as a long-time Star Class customer.
I think that a lot of the WOW HAS come off.  The program itself hasn't changed that much but frankly, as they say, "familiarity breeds contempt" and I think I am just jaded from doing SC so many times.  Yes, the price is definitely having a tamping effect but I just can't get that excited about SC anymore.  Maybe Dan is just wearin' me down... LOL.  We paid less than $5K for our first SC trip (Harmony, 2014).  That was a bargain.  It's just sooo incredibly expensive now, and with the services and options dwindling, I don't see the value, sadly.
We have a SC booking for Icon in Dec. 2024 and honestly, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant price tag ONLY b/c it will be an entirely new and unique experience, but I don't see myself booking any other SC cruises at the moment.  I'm always super excited for those who are doing SC - particularly those that are doing it for the first time.  It's fun.  It's different....and it does make you feel special.  I really enjoyed being Sky Class this past week on OA.  I enjoyed having somewhere civil to eat (particularly breakfast) and the room (GS) was very comfortable.  We have seen all of the shows so no need for reserved seats anywhere.  I think Sky Class may be my new comfort zone, too !

I'm certainly not referencing this to anyone....this is just my personal opinion, as a long-time Star Class customer.
I think that a lot of the WOW HAS come off.  The program itself hasn't changed that much but frankly, as they say, "familiarity breeds contempt" and I think I am just jaded from doing SC so many times.  Yes, the price is definitely having a tamping effect but I just can't get that excited about SC anymore.  Maybe Dan is just wearin' me down... LOL.  We paid less than $5K for our first SC trip (Harmony, 2014).  That was a bargain.  It's just sooo incredibly expensive now, and with the services and options dwindling, I don't see the value, sadly.
We have a SC booking for Icon in Dec. 2024 and honestly, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant price tag ONLY b/c it will be an entirely new and unique experience, but I don't see myself booking any other SC cruises at the moment.  I'm always super excited for those who are doing SC - particularly those that are doing it for the first time.  It's fun.  It's different....and it does make you feel special.  I really enjoyed being Sky Class this past week on OA.  I enjoyed having somewhere civil to eat (particularly breakfast) and the room (GS) was very comfortable.  We have seen all of the shows so no need for reserved seats anywhere.  I think Sky Class may be my new comfort zone, too !

We are North of Tampa & drive to Florida ports & even then drive over one day early.  Long story short we were driving across the State to Miami, due to a brush fire out of control halfway there Alligator Alley was closed by the State Police. Everyone on that road had to turn around and go back the way we came, we then had to cross Florida another way. If it had been same day we would have missed the ship, no doubt. The added hours and the added traffic we would have arrived to wave bye bye to our ship. The only port we drive same day is Tampa, but even then we leave super early just in case, it is literally 30 minutes from our home. I never take for granted we are within driving distance to the ports, we are not the most skilled drivers down here, 🤦‍♀️

So here it is.... After our first time in Star class with the Genie, I will have to say it is going to be different going back to anything else. Our experience on Oasis was great but there were a couple things to comment on Sailing out of Port Miami. 
We flew in 2 days in advance and I'm glad we did. We had a winter storm almost wreak havoc on our flight but we were lucky. We stayed at the Hilton Downtown and had a good experience for the price. Only downfall is their elevator system and how it works. All other amenities were good, pool was awesome and warm as bath water.
Embarkation was a little disjoined, there was supposed to be a dedicated location with Individuals in Purple shirts, this wasn't visible and a cause for confusion. The stand wasn't set up until almost 10:30, which is the earliest you can check in, I was just anticipating a roped line with better signage. After this the processes of Embarkation was seamless. You have your luggage taken by Star Class porters and is "Delivered to your room"(more on that later). You enter the terminal with your genie and up to Suite security check-in. Then its onto the lounge for a brief stop and then onto the ship.
Luggage delivery.... That was a disappointment, at about 3pm we went back to the room and were going to get ready for sail away and supper following. We had no luggage, called the Genie and she was on it, then 5 minutes later nothing still, I finally walked down the hall and low and behold they were sitting like everyone luggage, in the Hallway, with our attached Purple Star Class Tags. Crisis averted but disappointing.
Best Sail away we have had! Suite deck is absolutely the place. Also we were blessed to board on the Port side which means we were able to sail to downtown, do the turntable, and sale all the way back out. That is how every sail away should go if I was in charge at Royal! 
Room was great and lived up to the Ultimate Panoramic Suite. Amenities were great, bed was comfortable, over abundance of Closet space for the Wife and myself. Products requested were in the room and never in short supply, Climate control and comfort was easy to adjust(need for keeping shades closed during day or lowest setting for cooling due to all the glass). Bathrooms were great to have 2, never bothered my wife when she was getting ready and could quick use one or the other. One disappointment that I would have with the bathrooms is the toilet paper. That had to be the absolute cheapest they could find. I swear you could 5 fold that stuff and still be able to trace words on a book through it. I understand that the plumbing on the ship is not meant for heavy duty trash down the toilet, but an upgrade to that paper would be nice. Was nice to be able to have a shower or bath if you wanted and fit(6'7" doesn't fit well into most tubes), shower for me with the rainfall worked awesome and didn't have to bend over to rinse off my head. hahaha
I was on the fence about the Genie and if we would utilize their services to what we would think would justify the added cost. I would say ours did have the added benefit. We were able to have her book or adjust times for reservation in restaurants and add more shows to our schedule(saw Aqua 80's twice and in exchange for Cats). It was nice being escorted on and off the ship, and having that luxury experience. She was able to have different items delivered for us to snack on(Playmakers nachos and wings, Tiramisu for a late evening desert, Tapas from Vintages, and chocolate covered strawberries) along with a nice gift that she had delivered to our room. **Pro note if you have to much food and you have a great bartender up on the suite deck, we would bring some of the food up to them and they would put it in the back area. That was a huge hit and gesture that they were really grateful for and didn't waste food.
We ate at All of the Specialty Restaurant's. Still our #1 favorite is 150 Central Park. Chefs table was also a great experience to have all the parings and explanations. Playmakers Campfire cookie is still awesome even though it didn't come in the skillet like before. Most under rated place is Port Side BBQ, the food was awesome and the 3 meat option could easily be split 2 ways. We were advised to book both Chefs and Hibachi ahead of time, but we just go with the flow and let the genie rearrange our schedule to make the times work. Plus we find it fun to sit with new people and interact.
Shows were great with the Genie having the best seats reserved. 3rd row dead center for the Aqua shows, middle of the Room for the Comedy show, and right against the railing for the Ice show. We could have our drinks messaged to her ahead of time and have them for the shows.
My wife also took advantage of the Starbucks drinks available to Star Class and had them delivered every morning to our room. .
Galley an Bridge tour was also something to see and take in. Cool to see behind the scenes.  
Debarkation was also awesome, we met her by the elevator bank, were able to bypass all floors and were walked off the ship. You then get handed off to a Suite dedicated person at the terminal, Genies can not go any further than up to security. We were taken directly to security/customs on the street level through the suite elevators and out to our Uber pickup location. We walked with all of our luggage, this gave us more time to pack and organize the last night.
Overall it was top notch. Going back once you are spoiled with this experience to anything less now isn't going to feel the same. 
The way we justified this was 3 years without a vacation, and we were originally booked on Wonder for January of '23 in a GS and I'm always looking for a better price. I stumbled onto this sailing and cabin by chance. Full disclosure this cruise booked was $10,928, our Wonder was only $1,000 cheaper and we would have had another $1,800 into it with the DBP and VOOM, Dining Package..... That is the one thing I will always look at now moving forward with a cruise for any room are the added costs and if it can justify going to Star Class.
 
Welcome any question or comments!!
 
 

Central Park



150 Central Park Tenderloin for 2

Our room view just out of Port Miami











Suite Lounge

View from Hilton Downtown Fitness Center

Bridge

I have an update on this subject.
I posted back upstring somewhere that only the WOW bands without a muster station could be reprogrammed.  Not the case, it seems !  I didn’t realize until this morning that Dan’s WOW band, which was reprogrammed at the start of this cruise, has an old muster station on it.  So it may depend on who you get at GS, but at least in our case, a WOW band with an old (and incorrect) muster station was reprogrammed. Go figure.

This has been my experience as well.  Suites board first regardless of boarding time on your set sail pass.

It turns out that this production is not the ALW version. Royal says it's a Royal Caribbean production. 

The Zodiac is pending an update given that Starlink satellites are blocking visibility of the night sky.   The revised Zodiac will include a component based on which Starlink satellites were launched during an individual's birth week and month.  
For example if born the week of August 7 then your Starlink Zodiac sign is L9 or Launch 9.

Starlink on Wonder was absolutely terrible this past week. Speeds and (perceived) latency were really atrocious and it honestly felt like I was on Mariner of the Seas pre-Starlink at times.
I don't know if this is the result of a throttling on the network level, or an upnetwork change.
I heard from multiple guests onboard the Voom rep said it was an issue with Starlink, but for an entire week? Not so sure.
Very disappointing.

A few additional observations.
-  Went to Chops on the last night and it was great as always.  Ordered the filet and Salmon and made my own surf/turf.  The chocolate lava cake is amazing as well as the red velvet.  We had the mac/cheese, fries and creamed spinach and they were all spot on.
- the HDMI1 port was available on the back of the tv's and via the remote you can access with channel 0, which leads me to believe you can hook up a console or other HDMI compatible devices.
- Mason Jar is as good as advertised.  The food was really good and the bread and butter they provide prior to the meal is only rivaled by the break at 150 park.  The chicken and greens were fantastic, and the gumbo was good, wish it was roux based versus tomato based but still good flavor.  Even came with two crawfish in the gumbo.  The chocolate pecan pie and bourbon ice cream were great and just an overall great experience.  The bar has very unique drink options and the smokey old fashioned was on point.  Only bad thing was even with a reservation we still waited an additional 30-40 minutes to be seated. 
- As on most cruises the casino was packed every night, I played blackjack the majority of my time while there.

Hello and good morning to you…just in case you are booked on this sailing!  We are a little more than 4 months away from this cruise.  Actually it’s 130 days and counting. 🤭  At last check of prices…holy cow…they have soared!  All the deals I found even after I originally booked this have long sailed away…lol…!!!
Anyway…my grandkids are finally showing a tiny bit of excitement but keep telling me it won’t seem real until after they finish the school year (that’s their biggest countdown right now) and have started summer vacation!  
Me?  I’ve been excited since I booked 🥳🤗😆!  
Anyone else on this?  Just thought I would check.

 
 

I'm certainly not referencing this to anyone....this is just my personal opinion, as a long-time Star Class customer.
I think that a lot of the WOW HAS come off.  The program itself hasn't changed that much but frankly, as they say, "familiarity breeds contempt" and I think I am just jaded from doing SC so many times.  Yes, the price is definitely having a tamping effect but I just can't get that excited about SC anymore.  Maybe Dan is just wearin' me down... LOL.  We paid less than $5K for our first SC trip (Harmony, 2014).  That was a bargain.  It's just sooo incredibly expensive now, and with the services and options dwindling, I don't see the value, sadly.
We have a SC booking for Icon in Dec. 2024 and honestly, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant price tag ONLY b/c it will be an entirely new and unique experience, but I don't see myself booking any other SC cruises at the moment.  I'm always super excited for those who are doing SC - particularly those that are doing it for the first time.  It's fun.  It's different....and it does make you feel special.  I really enjoyed being Sky Class this past week on OA.  I enjoyed having somewhere civil to eat (particularly breakfast) and the room (GS) was very comfortable.  We have seen all of the shows so no need for reserved seats anywhere.  I think Sky Class may be my new comfort zone, too !

Ready for this cruise!!! It's my wife and my first ever cruise.

I haven't seen the receipts and/or the drink count at bottom of them. I used them all week on Wonder and nada.

On Oasis now (March 19-26) and speed in our balcony room (deck 8, mid ship) and everywhere else has been essentially unusable.  Often the download speed is less than 1M and upload never gets anywhere near 1M.  4.1M download is the best I’ve ever recorded.
I just spoke with the voom internet desk and the guy had zero solutions.  It’s just very slow overall.   DO NOT plan to work on an RC ship as there’s a good chance you’ll experience the same thing.  Or you’ll get lucky.  Who knows.  Streaming anything is impossible. 

 

once again, the reminder about gifting a day off is welcomed!!
also would not have thought about the laundry detergent. 🧐 i will bring this on our next cruise. 
it’s completely insane; every crew we’ve interacted with has mentioned how when they do go ashore, it’s always to get internet and they know the places to go when in port bc of these fees. 

One of the casino dealers told me recently that Royal charges them $4/minute to use Voom !  I couldn't believe it.  That's highway robbery.  I'm sure that most of the crew wait until they are off the ship to use their wireless plans but I couldn't believe Royal charges their crew that kind of ridiculous rate.

I would imagine Most use whatsapp and the like to call home. 

I have an update on this subject.
I posted back upstring somewhere that only the WOW bands without a muster station could be reprogrammed.  Not the case, it seems !  I didn’t realize until this morning that Dan’s WOW band, which was reprogrammed at the start of this cruise, has an old muster station on it.  So it may depend on who you get at GS, but at least in our case, a WOW band with an old (and incorrect) muster station was reprogrammed. Go figure.

Update on this story.  Yesterday, the Suite Concierge sent out an email clearly stating that there was limited bar service 11-11.  No idea why this came but suspect that confusing pre-boarding letter had lead to uncertainty.
As surprising as it may seem, this is our first cruise ever in Sky Class on an O class ship (we were in a GS on Anthem for our last cruise before the halt to cruising) !  On other O class sailings we were either Star Class or GenPop.  So this is really our first experience with the Suites Concierges….and I will say that they have been awesome, so far.  I will also admit that after 2 weeks in GenPop and fighting the hordes in the Solarium Bistro and WJ for breakfast, having the CK (which I have frequently maligned) as a place of sanity and civility, has been a welcome blessing.  Even Dan - my #wedontneddnostinkinsuite  crusader - has recognized the value of some of the Suite benefits.
#suitesnobsunite !

I'm certainly not referencing this to anyone....this is just my personal opinion, as a long-time Star Class customer.
I think that a lot of the WOW HAS come off.  The program itself hasn't changed that much but frankly, as they say, "familiarity breeds contempt" and I think I am just jaded from doing SC so many times.  Yes, the price is definitely having a tamping effect but I just can't get that excited about SC anymore.  Maybe Dan is just wearin' me down... LOL.  We paid less than $5K for our first SC trip (Harmony, 2014).  That was a bargain.  It's just sooo incredibly expensive now, and with the services and options dwindling, I don't see the value, sadly.
We have a SC booking for Icon in Dec. 2024 and honestly, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant price tag ONLY b/c it will be an entirely new and unique experience, but I don't see myself booking any other SC cruises at the moment.  I'm always super excited for those who are doing SC - particularly those that are doing it for the first time.  It's fun.  It's different....and it does make you feel special.  I really enjoyed being Sky Class this past week on OA.  I enjoyed having somewhere civil to eat (particularly breakfast) and the room (GS) was very comfortable.  We have seen all of the shows so no need for reserved seats anywhere.  I think Sky Class may be my new comfort zone, too !

I'm certainly not referencing this to anyone....this is just my personal opinion, as a long-time Star Class customer.
I think that a lot of the WOW HAS come off.  The program itself hasn't changed that much but frankly, as they say, "familiarity breeds contempt" and I think I am just jaded from doing SC so many times.  Yes, the price is definitely having a tamping effect but I just can't get that excited about SC anymore.  Maybe Dan is just wearin' me down... LOL.  We paid less than $5K for our first SC trip (Harmony, 2014).  That was a bargain.  It's just sooo incredibly expensive now, and with the services and options dwindling, I don't see the value, sadly.
We have a SC booking for Icon in Dec. 2024 and honestly, I'm willing to pay the exorbitant price tag ONLY b/c it will be an entirely new and unique experience, but I don't see myself booking any other SC cruises at the moment.  I'm always super excited for those who are doing SC - particularly those that are doing it for the first time.  It's fun.  It's different....and it does make you feel special.  I really enjoyed being Sky Class this past week on OA.  I enjoyed having somewhere civil to eat (particularly breakfast) and the room (GS) was very comfortable.  We have seen all of the shows so no need for reserved seats anywhere.  I think Sky Class may be my new comfort zone, too !

This kind of thing just makes me laugh.  Soooo many crocodile tears shed over potentially devastating environmental concerns.  BS !  Atlantis is worried about competition !  Competition is a good thing.  No more monopoly/captive audience for Atlantis.  

Yep...me too