Lryoon

Debarkation Day
Saddest day.  Yen asked us what we wanted delivered to our room for breakfast and what time we wanted to get off the ship.  Promptly at 7:15 our breakfast arrived (bagels, pastries, coffee and juice).  We caught Brian and Lucky out in the hallway after breakfast and gave them their tips for amazing service.  Yen came with a porter at 8AM and whisked us off the ship with our luggage in no time.  She used her special card to get us on an elevator with our porter which was great.  As we said our final goodbye near customs I had tears in my eyes thinking about the best week we had and the amazing things she did for us.
After having some time to think about the cruise, there are some amenities I wish we had taken advantage of.  Hubby and I are not “sit down” for breakfast types but I wish I had done Coastal Kitchen once for breakfast.  The others in our party did Coastal most days and said they really enjoyed it.  The other thing we never did was Jaime’s or Chops for lunch.  I would have loved to try one of the burgers or enjoyed a nice salad and soup.  On sea days we always had a lot scheduled so we grabbed Johnny Rockets one day and Windjammer for the other sea days.  I felt it was hard last minute to change plans since there were 10 of us but I wish at least hubby and I did more specialty dining for lunch.
Would I do Star Class again – of course (if I could afford it of course)!!  We are currently trying to get 2 BR Aqua theater for September but unless the prices drop, we are going to stick with our Owner’s Suite (we are wait listed for Crown Loft which is sold out).  Our next Star Class experience is on a short 4 night cruise in November on Oasis.
We had an amazing cruise, a lot of laughs, enjoyed being spoiled and look forward to our next adventure! Thanks for following along.  With all of the craziness going on across the world with the dreaded “C” word, I enjoyed positing this to distract those who followed along.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who posted great tips and did their own live blogs that I followed along with leading up to our cruise.  All of the questions I had and nervousness about not being able to plan all of my dining ahead of the cruise were alleviated by people explaining that the Genie really does take care of everything – and she did!  Until next time, stay safe everyone and I will be looking forward to cruises sailing again so I can read along on other blogs in the future!

All of the things you mention on your recap makes me nervous for my sc I booked for november. Our experience on anthem was good and most of it because our genie was very present and visible with us and most downfalls happened when she wasnt around. She truly made the experience for us. 
I'm really hoping things change and get better because if we dont have a spotless trip it might be hard to convince hubby 

Funny you say that because we specifically asked to watch the show from the Aqua Theatre not our balcony the first time around. We will catch it on our balcony as well. It will be interesting to compare both perspectives. 

Hmm...where should I start?
- It's known as the "Gated Community" lol, the halls are very wide and quiet and the only traffic there are those staying on Deck 17.
- The proximity to CK and the Suite Lounge is a huge plus for us.  We make good use of that.  The ATS is going to be a bit of a trek.
- There is nothing like the Lofts.  The wide expanse of the cabin due to the high ceilings, the views, total "Wow" factor in these cabins.  This is probably the most important to us.
- The loft attendants are in a league of their own.  I would never have known this to be true until we experienced it ourselves.  And this is not saying that other cabin attendants are not good, but the service and they way the loft attendants conduct themselves it just different.
 

We have Izzy (Israel) in 13 days! ?‍♂️

That is definitely room location related! 
The loft attendants are in a class of their own.  Not just anyone can become a loft attendant.  I was told that by several crew members over the years.  And proximity to CK helps with food delivery on Deck 17.  

I guess the question I would ask is....if you guys were able to find the soft pretzels TWICE, why hasn't Smitha been able to find them, too ??

I feel like I'm the one that's going to be fighting off the porters while I wrangle 2 kids when I go because well my husband is too nice though i did threaten him that if he let our bags go to anyone aside a star porter hed end up with a VERY angry wife lol 

I feel like I'm the one that's going to be fighting off the porters while I wrangle 2 kids when I go because well my husband is too nice though i did threaten him that if he let our bags go to anyone aside a star porter hed end up with a VERY angry wife lol 

I feel like I'm the one that's going to be fighting off the porters while I wrangle 2 kids when I go because well my husband is too nice though i did threaten him that if he let our bags go to anyone aside a star porter hed end up with a VERY angry wife lol 

Day 4 - Dinner at Izumi
We totally overdid it. I keep thinking of that South Park episode when Cartman sings, “I’m a little piggie, here’s my snout. Oink, oink, oink. Oink, oink, oink.” I AM that little piggie. ?
So, of course the meal starts with edamame. Then we had pork gyoza dumplings. I also started with the first of 3 “She’s A Geisha” cocktails. 



We ordered several rolls: champagne lobster in yuzu wrap, spicy crispy shrimp, spider roll, truffle creamy lobster tempura, and baked snow crab & salmon dynamite. My husband also asked for “something with octopus.” I had some trouble with the photos since the lighting in the esplanade kept casting a blue hue over everything. 






 
We ordered Tonkotsu Ramen with just noodles and broth for our son. We thought it tasted pretty good, but he did not. He was not a great fan of Izumi overall, so we ended up getting him Johnny Rockets after our meal. But now I’m off on a tangent. Redirecting... 
So, after feeling quite accomplished that we finished all of the above, here comes Julius with an extra “surprise” roll. Futomaki. Why????? ? How can we possibly eat more?? Oh, but we did. 

 
We had 2 little mochi ice cream balls each for dessert , then waddled over to Johnny Rockets for our son’s second bacon cheeseburger, fries, and shake of the day. 

Today is day 5. Yen has arranged room service breakfast from CK. We are doing a beach excursion on St. Maarten. This involves a bathing suit. It won’t be pretty. The SC food coma is real. Beware! ?
Dinner will be Jamie’s tonight. Followed by a ventriloquist show. 

I know what you are thinking.  January 2022?  Did I read that right?
In order to secure a great price on one of only two Star Class Ultimate Panoramic Suites on Oasis I booked this a couple of months ago when the itineraries where first released.  Within minutes of them going public I secured the 2nd of these two suites in the name of research and, well it seemed like a good excuse to book a cruise.
That's nice and all but why start a blog now?
I am so tired of @Matt beating up on my fellow Canadian @Lovetocruise2002 even though we all knew he has the record for starting a cruise blog the longest before any sailing in the history of these boards that I had to step in and take action.   So back off Matt!
Seven hundred and twenty nine days.  
Itinerary as it stands today includes Puerto Plata, DR, St Thomas USVI and San Juan Puerto Rico.  
This may be my only 2020 update.  I'll do my best to update this blog at least once in 2021.  
Until then, let it be known I hold the record for the longest pre-cruise early blogging award!

Nothing wrong with the tower.  It’s just a LOT of food.

I really like her. I feel that the formality that some folks mention is just mistaken professionalism. She will do what you ask, but seems reluctant to outright state her personal opinion - in favor of guest preferences. If you listen closely to her, she is spot on. So, we’ve been following her recommendations and having a great time. She’s really taken excellent care of us. It’s our first time in SC, so I wouldn’t know if it’s supposed to be any different than what we’ve experienced. But I also can’t imagine what else she could be doing. 

Sadly, no.  The most spontaneous thing she did for us on our 16 days with her was to book a sushi-making class for us.  It turns out that we had done the class before on Grandeur and really had no interest in doing it again....but we did anyway b/c we didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
She’s really a very nice person and she was a wonderful Genie but if you are looking for someone who will anticipate and go above and beyond, she may disappoint. She will give you exactly what you ask for but nothing more.

As I wandered around taking pictures today I saw “Super Mario’s” office on deck 15. Guy’s got nothing on me.  Except a little more than 8,000 nights at sea!?

First Contact -
Exactly 60 days prior to our sail date, I got the SC questionnaire.  I'm sure the SC planners hate me but I only answer a few questions on this stupid questionnaire - the ones that I know will affect me directly.  I always give them our "preferred" names (my real name is Ramona but I have been Raye all my life...and I prefer to be called Raye.  Daniel is, of course, Dan) and I tell them what kinds of drinks we like in our suite and that we are night owls and like to sleep in but I don't answer the inane questions like, "what famous person in history would you like to have dinner with" or whatever it asks...  I just leave those (and there are a few of them !) blank.
So, I completed as much of questionnaire as I ever do and submitted it.
Then, exactly 4 weeks prior to the sail date I got our first communication directly from our future Royal Genie, Yen Lee.  This is when it starts to get "real".  Once you are communicating with your Genie, you start to get really excited b/c you know you are NOW planning your cruise.
First thing....I wanted to know whether or not we would have the same Genie on both legs of our B2B.  Genies rotate the rooms that they service PLUS we were changing rooms so I wanted to make sure that we had the same person.  She wrote back promptly to let me know that "it would be her honor to serve as our Royal Genie on both of our legs".  YIPPEE !!!!
This/these cruises were our 5th and 6th Star Class cruises so we had a bit of experience to draw upon.  We knew what things had worked and what things were - meh.  I made a few specific requests of Yen:
1.  We wanted our luggage to remain with us throughout the boarding process.  On EVERY one of our previous SC cruises our bags had separated from us at security and it was ages before they made their way to our suite AND they were always left downstairs.  I wanted to make sure that our bags were there when we arrived AND that we had someone to take them up the stairs for us.
2.  On all of our previous SC cruises there were constant interruptions - phone ringing - people knocking at the door - deliveries - questions - invitations....nonstop - particularly the first couple of days.  I asked if Yen would please try and curtail/manage the interruptions so that we didn't have to jump up every 5 minutes to answer a door or phone.  This single issue is the main reason that Dan has never particularly cared for Star Class.  Of course, I realize that the Genie doesn't control 90% of this but I just threw that one out there to see if there was anything that could be done.
3.  I asked for reservations at Chops on embarkation day.  In the past, this has never been a problem.  Oftentimes, we were the only ones in the restaurant and had the place nearly to ourselves.  BUT I knew that They Key had been implemented recently and that Chops would probably be a madhouse.  I was right.