SwagsAF

This is great news! When we book suites we like the benefit of the Concierge Lounge. There is nothing worse then having it over run by Diamond + members who go in early and save seats. We pay a lot of money for this perk!  
 
On cruises we book in a non suite cabin we are happy to huddle with the unwashed masses in the Diamond lounge! 

RCI is now posting updates on their site:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas-updates

We have also had a wonderful pre cruise experience with Romina. It seems as though the Anthem has some great new Genies! Can’t wait for embarkment on Monday! 

Loving this thread! 
 
About that time did you reach the Verrazano Bridge? I’m curious because our Genie is delivering food to our room for sail away, right after Muster.... but we were wanting to go up top for the passing under the bridge. It seems like we may feel super rushed, and now wondering if we should cancel the food/ drink order. 
 
from my understanding we should be back to our room by 3:30 following muster. Does this seem right? 
sailing Monday, can’t wait! 
 
Thanks!

Pre-Cruise Communication
We have been in touch with Andres via email. Generally speaking, our emails have been answered within hours -- which is pretty impressive!
We have a port arrival time of 1030AM. Andres has offered to have my parents (who are not Star class) check-in with us at the port, the only caveat being that their luggage would be delivered to our suite. No worries, since their room is right down the hall. 
We have requested that our mini-bar be stocked with: bottled water, Coke Zero/Diet Coke, bottled unsweetened/diet iced tea, hard cider, and Amstel Light. 
Our son will have a surprise birthday celebration with chocolate cake at some point during the cruise.
Disembarkation will be around 845AM, so we are planning to have our transportation meet us at 9AM. I have read online that there is no indoor place to wait after disembarkation, and since it will be early February and presumably COLD, we need to make sure that this is coordinated well. 
Most of our packing is finished. Still need to do a few last minute things. 8 days and counting! So excited! 

We loved our cruise on Anthem last week.  Crew was great, ship was beautiful, everything was great....EXCEPT for the people in the cabin next to ours.
Apologies in advance if this involves anyone on this forum.
There were 2 and sometimes 3 young men staying in the cabin next to ours.  Probably 18-22 years old.   Never heard a peep from their cabin all day but every night at 3 or 4 am, they would come in and proceed to slam doors, move furniture, open/close the balcony door repeatedly, wrestle on the floor, dribble a ball against the wall, and be very, very LOUD.  After about 60-90 minutes of shenanigans, they would go to sleep, or leave.   After waking us up the first two nights, we called guest services to see if there was anything they could do.   They suggested to call them the next time it happened. 
We ran into the father of one of the young men entering the cabin one evening and told him about the issue.  He said he would take care of it. 
The neighbors on the other side of us, and the opposite side of the noisy cabin told us they heard the noises too.
Things improved for one night but got progressively worse the rest of the cruise.
We called guest services two nights in a row and were placed on hold but never got to speak to anyone.
The last night of the cruise, the young men came back to the cabin at 11 pm, seemed to be intoxicated (audio cues only).  One young man indicated he could not wait for the bathroom and was going to "use the balcony" as his personal restroom.   They went out quickly but resumed the noise at 4 am. 
We received an apology from RCI for the incident but are concerned that no additional measures were taken to minimize the disruption to us and our neighbors.  We have never experienced inconsiderate neighbors before and wondering if anyone else has and what you did to resolve.  I detailed the account in the post-cruise survey with RCI but should we pursue it further?
 

I asked our Genie where he was from and brought him snacks popular in India, his home country, which i thought would be tough for him to find while on the ship. I was successful on 2 of my 3 picks, but one he was bringing home to his wife which was her favorite. So we had a laugh about me finding something in the States that he was bringing back home to his wife... 
 
I also gave personalized stationary and a pen set engraved with his name. He loved them both, but i know he was not able to use the stationary onboard. 
 

VERY nice !!

Quick word of caution, while it is probably extremely rare, genie assignments can change.  We had a couple of gifts from our local area and one was personalized for our genie.  The day of boarding we were notified that our genie was changed.  So we were stuck with that personalized item.  We passed along the other gifts and a little  extra $$$.

I am going it echo what @AshleyDillo and @WAAAYTOOO already said. Cash and consumables work best. They have very little storage space. We put together a small gift bag for our our genie with some chocolates, organic soap, a notebook, and a stainless steel bottle.  The bottle was personalize with one of her favourite quotes. Nothing was larger (in size) then the bag. 

Welcome to the SC snobs' club.  All are welcome !
I am definitely going to bow to Lovetocruise2002 here.  She did an excellent job of personalizing their gifts to their Genie on her first SC cruise.  I guess the only question is whether or not you have time to do the kind of personalized gifts that she did...
On our last SC cruise (Dec. 8 on Oasis) I brought back some things that I had gotten on a recent trip to the Middle East, which included a lovely (smallish) Aladdin's Lamp.  Come to find out, the Genies are all given small genie lamps when they enter the program, so it was kind of a bust, but I tried....  The thing to keep in mind is that they have very little personal space in their cabins so whatever you get, be sure that it isn't big !!
I usually give the female Genies something like a pashmina wrap, which I also gave Joyce along with her lamp...for the guys I usually give them something from a favorite or local sports team like a ball cap or a jersey.  Interestingly, on our Dec. 8 Oasis cruise, our Genie did NOT give us gifts, which is the first time I have had that happen.  Honestly, the gift-giving (on my part) was initiated b/c I felt bad that the Genie gave me a gift but I had nothing (except for money) to give them in return.  Frankly, if I had known that she wasn't going to give us anything, I wouldn't have bothered.  On our first few SC cruises, the Genie (happened to be Reyno, both times) went way out of his way to give us personalized gifts. It seems that Reyno had gone so far as to go online and track down Dan's Facebook and twitter accounts (I have neither) and learned that Dan was a Marine Corps pilot in his younger days and had gotten a gift that reflected Dan's background.  Reyno, is, himself, a milit'ry (spoken with a dashing South African accent) man...so they had a lot in common right off the bat.  After that first time, I made sure I had something to give back !
I think you're going to love being SC on Anthem.  We did B2B SC cruises on Anthem last Feb. and it was the best trip(s) ever.  There are many activities and events for which having a Genie really makes a big difference.  If you have children along who will enjoy things like bumper cars and roller skating, it is particularly awesome.  The downside is the lackluster Coastal Kitchen and lack of Suites Lounge but you will be spending most of your time in the specialty restaurants anyway....so it's not a huge deal.  Make sure Romina gets you reserved seating in the Music Hall and 270 for the cover band concerts.  She will probably tell you, officially, she cannot reserve seats in the Music Hall, but privately she will make sure you are taken care of.  I am still an Oasis class lover, but for being SC, I think it is really extra helpful on the Q class ships...there are so many special activities. 
Which deck are you on ?  the GLS on Deck 8 are amazing !!

They don't really have a lot of place to store stuff..so I typically lean towards something consumable when making a gift suggestion.  If there's a local item from your area that you can bring to gift them that might be an idea for someone you know nothing about.  If there's younger children, have them make a thank you card or draw a picture.  The physical things we've gifted weren't planned (we gifted a USB charger to a room steward that had made a comment about it) and we often brought back treats from the ports for crew members.

Food & Beverage deliveries to Suite 
I read lots about this on other star class blogs. The only deliveries to our room were beverages. Everything I mentioned in my Pre cruise communication with Andreas that didn’t come in a can was delivered all at once. It didn’t matter whether we were in our suite to accept the delivery. The drinks had ice in them so by the time we got back they were watered down and undrinkable. It was wasteful and we asked for this to stop. None of favorite snacks were ever delivered.  I don’t think Andreas paid much attention to our genie questionnaire but rather relied on our pre cruise emails. In hindsight it seems like it was a waste of my time. 

You lucked out with Andres from what I have read! We got our notification last week from Romina for the same sailing. While I haven’t heard too many things about her (I believe she is brand new), she is also off to a great start. 
Excited for the countdown... only 26 more days! 

You lucked out with Andres from what I have read! We got our notification last week from Romina for the same sailing. While I haven’t heard too many things about her (I believe she is brand new), she is also off to a great start. 
Excited for the countdown... only 26 more days! 

ISince we are docked at the downtown pier, we decided to go out into town for a while. Beside us is docked NCL Breakaway.


Out in the bay, offshore, is the NCL Escape.  She is tendering her peeps ashore with lifeboats.  Glad I’m not on Escape !
We walked down to the Plaza and decided to have a couple of beers and some chips and pico de gallo.  This was the first alcohol that either of us have had the entire cruise !  The cold Coronas tasted pretty good.  More about this, later.

At some point, Dan mentioned something about maybe getting a cheap massage.  Oh yeah....that sounded like a GREAT idea.  After finishing our beers and chips, we asked our waiter if there was anywhere close where we could get a massage. It seemed we were in luck !  No more than 20 paces down the side street was a spa.  The decision was made.  If the price was right, we were getting massages.  Trust me, this is no foo foo spa.  It’s a hole-in-the-wall place but the price seemed right.  $70 each for a 90 minute massage.  Done.  They put us in a “room” for 2.  I put “room” in quotations because it is really just 1 big room with curtains to separate the “private” areas.  Good enough for us.
I will just say up front that this was one of the best massages I have ever had.  Most masseuses hurt me.  I guess I’m just a wimp but the whole “deep tissue” thing is about as far from enjoyable as I can get.  But this lovely lady’s touch was perfect. You start out on your belly, of course, and I was really settling in...enjoying every stroke.  She did my back, neck and shoulders.  Heaven.  Then she moved to my legs....and trouble began to brew.
Here’s where the forewarning from the beer and chips photo comes back into play.  As if, by some awesome force of nature and gravity combined, the moment she started pushing “up” (towards my torso) on my legs, the beer bubbles began to be pushed up from my belly.  Had I been standing, I would simply let out a diminutive “burp” and all would have been fine....but I was laying on my stomach and those beer bubbles were trapped between my stomach and my throat.  I tried to maneuver in a way that would allow them to escape, but nopesville.  They just kept accumulating in a most unpleasant location, soon to be joined by some chips and salsa (thank you, hiatal hyneria).  It was both horrifying and hilarious at the same time.
I thought the legwork would never end.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, she whispered “turn over on your back, please”.  As soon as I moved, the loudest, most manly, horrific belch came roaring out.  It was so loud I’m sure they heard it across the street.  Dan said “are you ok ?”  I was so relieved.  I just muttered “yes, I’m fine”.
The moral of this story is NEVER drink a beer before having a massage !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Would you be willing to share with me as well? We are getting ready for our first star class at the end of Jan. i really appreciate all of your input! 

No. We just upgraded yesterday! We are so excited. I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready for a cruise! 
i love the idea of getting a gift for your Genie. Hopefully I’ll know who ours is soon and can prepare. 

Welcome to the point of no return. ?
That is a fantastic upgrade.  I have yet to sail SC on Anthem.  All our SC bookings are on Oasis class.  If you scroll through the live blogs, there are a few SC blogs specifically on Anthem that you might find helpful as you wait out the next six weeks!  Happy planning!  We just made final payment on our next SC adventure in March.  The excitement is returning. 

We will also be on this sailing! Just upgraded to a grand loft, and this will be our first time in star class. No contact from our genie yet, but since we just upgraded I am not surprised. I am also excited to see who our genie is and get started preparing. 
we also used to be avid DIsney Cruisers, but made the switch to RCCL for the same reason. We just couldn’t justify the rising prices for what was offered. In our opinion, the royal ships are far superior to disney, even for our children. 
we have 2 boys, ages 12 and 9. They LOVE Royal. Your son will have a great time no doubt. 

Thank you so much for all of this amazing info. We have been booked in a JS for our 11 night southern Caribbean on the Anthem in Jan for some time now, but we’re just upgraded to the corner grand loft suite, star class! We are beyond excited, as we have always dreamed of sailing SC. 
this blog has so much great info. Hopefully I’ll hear from our Genie soon, as we are 6 weeks out now. Can’t wait!! 

No. We just upgraded yesterday! We are so excited. I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready for a cruise! 
i love the idea of getting a gift for your Genie. Hopefully I’ll know who ours is soon and can prepare.