Yesiamthere

They were so creeped out! We have to remember the cruise population represents our society. It’s hard because we adapt to a false sense of security when we step onto a ship.

Now I’m curious if deck 17 would of gotten me an eight instead of a 7:30 time to vacate the room. Maybe, if I pushed harder. I remember the days when the genie brought a porter and cart to carry your luggage the morning you were leaving. That perk is gone. The main problem to star class is the pricing. It’s doubled, at least. I’m still looking for a “deal” for a future star class sailing, because we all had so much fun. It was wonderful not to stand in lines. When our son’s snorkeling excursion was cancelled while they stood in line, MJ immediately had them booked for one at the next port. The only problem with the aqua suites would be your room steward. He was personable and did a good job with our room, but suite floor has a better caliber of room stewards. Our guy was overworked. He had 23 rooms to service. I wonder how many rooms the suite guys have?

My granddaughter and new hubby were in the elevator coming back from the time in the hot tub when a middle age couple started a uncomfortable conversation. The woman and man told granddaughter’s hubby how good he looked without a shirt. Then told my granddaughter how pretty she was. Conversation was so uncomfortable that the two of them got the heck off the elevator. Granddaughter thinks the couple were swingers. She was all grossed out for a while!

Emergencies: A family on our cruise had to have their young child evacuated. Son turned out fine, so they tried to meet the ship at the next port. They couldn’t due to no passport for child. They originally had boarded with a birth certificate. Then from a perfect view from our balcony, we saw a small boat. Royal sent a boat to see what the problem was. Then a big plane kept circling the boat. Eventually, helicopter came and rescue the group who had been floating around for days. The below pictures were taken by someone else on ship.

We asked for eight, but told 7:30, which I thought a bit early too!

My final review (so sorry I was horrible at posting. This is going to be long, so you may have to read parts each day. We flew into hobby airport and stayed at the airport Marriott. The hotel was nice, but located in a “not so” nice area. We are life time “platinum” with Marriott, so was nice to get the whole family into their concierge lounge, for drinks and coffee. Galveston shuttle picked us up at 9:00am in their really nice van, and we all had a comfortable ride to the port. Traffic can be a big issue in Galveston, but this Sunday morning we made record time to the port. The only “hiccup” was my non star hubby had us all get out around the corner from the star class entrance. He didn’t want to bother the driver when he pulled in the wrong area to let us out. I’m sure you are starting to understand why we all voted him off the Island. As we were walking to star entrance,, I saw the huge wrap around line for non suite passengers, waiting for boarding to start. Happy, happy, happy we were not getting into that line. When we turned the corner, oh my, there were a lot of people just all standing around. Seeing a lady with a clip board we knew she must be our person. She immediately called two porters for our luggage and called our genie escort. Both came really fast! Our genie escort led us in the building to security. The amazing part of boarding is that they were “only” letting in Star Class! Suites still had to wait outside, and on the way to security you could see the area where non suites check-in and there were only employees waiting for doors to open. After a quick security check, we were in the suite lounge being checked in by several people. You sit and they come to you. The suite area is nice and has pastries/coffee. MJ (our genie) showed right when we finished the check in process, and led us to our room. Room was ready with the exception of guy putting drinks in our refrigerator. We all sat and MJ went over our schedule, and informed us of the new rule starting with our cruise. If you don’t cancel your dinner reservations the night before (he would stretch it to the morning of) then you are charged $15 per person. I’m thinking when people just don’t show or cancels last minute then the speciality restaurants workers are out of a “tip”. Too late to fill the table. For me, the new rule is fine, but it does take away the spontaneity, that you had spent thousands and thousands for, so it comes across as a bit “nick picking”. Royal is heading down the “wrong” path - doubling star class prices but taking away star class benefits. We had a couple of issues with cards not working and the safe broken but MJ took care of that immediately. We also asked for a bottle opener and MJ sent a new in package Royal anchor opener, which was so cool, it found its way into our luggage. Where Royal lost money was in their laundry service. We (our grown ass kids) sent out at least five bags a day, starting on day one. Non star class hubby, was so embarrassed to meet the laundry guy, with his six foot cart at our door. Non star hubby thought just part of the clothes belong to us. The embarrassment came when he realized “all” the clothes on the rack belong to this room. Kids thought why let the opportunity to get their “suits” and “dresses” dry cleaned pass by! I’m amazed that “none of our stuff” was ever lost, or at least a matched sock came back unmatched or, at least, one of the socks went to sock heaven, like it does at home! Weather at boarding was chilly, but very doable. Most of us were coming from below freezing weather and snow, so the low 50’s felt like a gift. The next day, it was chilly in the morning but by afternoon very doable. We quickly got up to the high 70’s. Through the trip we did have a light rain here and there, with a down pour one night while sleeping. We woke up to our deck flooded, and had plans to eat breakfast out there. MJ had someone come with his equipment to clear our deck. Non star hubby told the “deck” sweeper to just give him the equipment and he would clear the deck off, like that was going to happen. Now are you really understanding why we voted hubby off the star class island? With the exception of the first sea day morning (we ate at CK) and the last morning we ate breakfast on our balcony. I always requested a table cloth. Having star bucks delivered and eating breakfast on the balcony was all of us favorite time. We also enjoyed having enough room inside for all of us to sit comfortably to eat lunch the last sea day, or play games as a family. The 8th floor two bedroom aqua suite is perfect for large groups. Yes, it is a walk down a long hall to get there, but worth every step. Other people have complained that the “room steward” for the Aqua suites are not “suite” material. I have to agree with that. First off, some suites have two “room stewards” and have fewer rooms to clean. Our guy had 23 rooms to clean, and no assistant. We were his only star class room. Our big room and amount of people in that room had to be overwhelming to him. I’m a “server” by nature, so I spent time all day everyday, making sure the room was at least easier to do. Kids berated me every morning when I would stack the dishes outside after breakfast. Even with my “help” the room steward earned his nice tip at the end. Son/daughter, who slept in hubby’s boardwalk room, were not thrilled with him. They tried to switch their nightly service to mornings, and was told “no”. I’m not sure how Royal decides who gets nights and who gets mornings for service. They never asked us. One of the highlights of the cruise was the ice show. We sat front and center with our drinks, popcorn and blankets. DIL said “this might be a bit much” as she pulled her blanket closer to her chin. Some of us went and saw Columbus, and loved it. We requested to sit where the suites sit, because we love the bar that holds our drinks. Comedy club we sat the firsts two rows. First guy was unbelievably not funny. Second guy had us laughing. Our aqua show was cancelled but ended up watching it from our balcony another night. Just after two of us left for the casino (me included) room service brought a chocolate martini with my name written (and a heart) in it with chocolate. How sweet was that! MJ set up two parties in our room. One to celebrate the recent marriage of granddaughter and the other the celebration of the last cancer treatment for DIL. Both well done! For dinner we tried all the restaurants, and did chops twice. We did not have to prebook the Hibachi, but it’s only offered at 7pm for star class. Steak (once again) was the best at CK. I’m still amazed that I was told I had to take a fountain coke because the bartenders were sleeping (this was at lunch). Once I mentioned that the coke was flat to our main server, he immediately went and found a can coke for me. Non star hubby did have to pay an up charge (close to $17) for his hibachi meal. There is a new non smoking casino replacing I think the old jazz club. It’s small but smells really good. I didn’t see any high jackpots but did see lots of just over $2,000 ones, which was pretty darn sad, as those people were betting $20 a pop! I was your typical “loser” for the week, but accepted that fact before I hit the first button. I was playing for my next “free” cruise in a balcony room. I play what that room would cost me. I’ve been doing that for years and it’s work well for me. I had MJ bring me a form to leave his tip on our credit card. Love those credit card points. It was an easy form to fill out, write your name, his name and position, and how much money you would like to leave. We paid cash to our room steward. We had to tip cash at CK because they do not give you a bill. The other restaurants they would give us two bills. One for non star hubby and one to me where I added their tip. MJ said to leave our luggage out by midnight (or, could of done before six in the morning) the last night of cruise. We were asked to leave our room by 7:30, which we did. We had breakfast in CK. MJ WhatsApp at 8:45 (our agreed time) that he was holding the elevator door on that floor for us. He led us pass lines (a few stares) off the ship. Facial recognition is so much better than going thru security. Star class luggage area had all our luggage. From the start to out the building was about 7 minutes. Maybe faster! Our driver was waiting for us right outside the building. MJ was an excellent genie. He truly was the best we have ever had. His personality is suited to being a genie. I think having Berty as a genie friend has helped him out a lot. The party he organized for my granddaughter/hubby wedding reminded me a whole lot of the one that Berty threw for @Jax son? (Might be wrong on the person) MJ had blown up pictures of their wedding from facebook. Now I’m thinking that Genie’s do a google/facebook search on all their people! We had a wonderful week. The bigger your group, the more star class is worth doing. When it’s just hubby and I, star class is really a waste on us. Grande suite suits us better! And, just like that, it’s all a memory!

During the tour of the ship for the family we past the windjammer. There was a long line just to get into that place at lunch!

It sounds like your chicken had a blood clot. Stays a horrible red even after cooking. It happened to me once, and was told what it was. Chefs have no idea which chicken will have it. I feeling sick just remembering that chicken.

A genie would have been wasted on him, and he did get to sleep with me in the master bedroom! Lol

Before I forget: Hubby was not Star class, he stayed in a boardwalk room two doors down from us. Actually, stayed with me but listed in that room. He was allowed to check in with us. We got special permission for him to eat with us the first night at CK. I’m thinking it was easier to do because the table sat eight people. He was not allowed into the suite lounge or CK at any other time, though he did eat breakfast the last morning with us before debarking.

Our last sea day breakfast and last room service lunch.

A few pictures. The second picture has MJ in it. The third picture is the game we played on the ship. Look up the racing horse game. It’s a really fun family game, but fun for adults only too!

Before I write a summary of the trip, I’m going to back up and add some stuff, in random order. The last afternoon, MJ had a surprise for our daughter in law, who had finished her last cancer treatment this past October. He had an ice cream bar with toppings, and a special cake that read, “Jillian, The Warrior”. Very well done! What I love about the two bedroom aqua suite is the ability to have eight people sit comfortably, inside or outside. Later that day, the four guys played in the dodgeball tournament, and had a blast, even though the temperature had dropped and it was windy! I’ll come back later, and add more!

We are up and about ready to have all our wishes come true! It’s 42 degrees here, cold for our South Carolina group, but no coat weather for our Milwaukee guy!

The whole group made it to Houston, staying at the Marriott. Now folks, the hotel is nice but the whole area is a bit sketchy. Good idea to leave everything in your hotel but one credit card to use to get dinner. We tried to go to Spanish Mass at 8:30pm, as their web site listed. Lights off. Mass was listed at 6:00 pm on their door, but never updated on their web page. Hubby said, well we tried, and that’s all Jesus wants from each of us. Hubby is a daily Mass attendee, so if he says we are alright with Jesus, then there’s. a good chance we will be fine going on a ship out in the ocean. Our genie, MJ, gave us his WhatsApp number tonight. We started a group chat. Galveston limo and shuttle picks us up at nine in the morning to head to the ship. Fun times!