Drewtastic86

Group of 8 here from Delaware and Ohio!!! Two of us have been on the Anthem twice before and love the ship! The rest of the group has never been on a ship like Anthem so it will be exciting!

@CruisnMike35 Safe trip to New Jersey! See you on board!

@Jax Thank you so much! We are really enjoying Jay so far and he is very nice, but from everything I have read from others, Shane seems like the King of the Royal Genies wow! I will ask Jay about linking the schedule to the app, that seems so much better thank you!

After staying up past midnight and two dropped calls later, we took or eMed tests and we are both NEGATIVE!!! Overall Royal's e-med tests were easy to complete. The proctor disconnected from each of us once but easily reconnected. The proctor was a very specific and detailed on instructions. I liked the overall convince of testing in this fashion. What I did not like was having to hold the cell phone while opening the kit and showing each item to the proctor simultaneously. I wish I had a third hand to hold the darn phone. The proctor is helpful and patient though with user error (I would not want their job!). Oh, and for the love of God fold the card COMPLETELY flat. I failed that one lol. The results came through my email and the Navica app. Jay recommend we do not solely rely on the app's copy of the results and bring a printed copy as backup. @Jax I am all ready for laundry service! In fact we packed a collapsible hamper thanks again to prior blogs! I need to take a picture tomorrow of all of our luggage LOL. I do have a question for the Star Class alumni out there. Jay sent us our schedule yesterday. Weeks prior, we had sent a preference document to Jay. In that document, we let Jay know that we prefer an 8 to 8:30 dinner time. The schedule he sent yesterday has the dinner times all over the place. I am assuming that this is because he scheduled us to see entertainment every night (which we really do not need to do). I feel bad to change his whole plan but some of the dining times were too early. We emailed him back asking to change the entire schedule. Is this normal for genie's having request to tweak the schedule one or more times? I get that this is his job but part of me feels bad lol. Thank you in advance! Andrew

So we are able to test tomorrow! You bet your bottom dollar I am making my husband stay up past midnight tonight so we can take the rapid tests and get our results! I have to say, even though the tests through Royal were costly, it eases up the stress of finding a location and proper testing time. @Jax We packed our suitcases yesterday and I have to tell you the packing cubes make a HUGE difference. My suitcase never looked more organized lol. The beauty of this cruise is that we can drive to the port. That means we packed mostly everything we own in our closet LOL. Jay has been very prompt in his responses to us which is great! We are scheduled to arrive between 10:30 and 11 a.m. on Friday. It looks like the departure time has been pushed back an hour to 4 p.m. which is perfect because we can settle in and unpack our closet and two dressers full of shoes and clothes lol. Wish us luck on the tests! I will check back in tomorrow! TTFN!!!

So we decided that we are driving to the terminal directly. In Cape Liberty, can you pull the car up to the Star Class banners and drop off bags there? Want to avoid the slew of porters trying to take the bags. @WAAAYTOOO I know you have had experience at this terminal so maybe you have advice especially now we are not taking a shuttle or Uber.

Hi everyone! 10 more days and we are onboard the Anthem of the Seas. I have been a little MIA for a couple of weeks. We moved into our new home and 2 days before we started the move, I tested positive. Imagine moving furniture and boxes while not feeling well and masked up. Yeah it’s as inconvenient as you would think! Two days ago during the blizzard we had in Delaware (that was fun lol) I tested negative finally!!! However, after having Covid I really can see that this virus is nothing to mess around with! I am trying to remain hopeful that we will be cruising but a little part of me is nervous since I just stopped being symptomatic! Cross your fingers we can still go! Covid anxiety aside, here is a little cruise update. We received correspondence from Royal stating our itinerary has changed. We will not be stopping at San Juan and Labadee (which I figured). Instead, we are planned to stop at Puerto Plata and St. Thomas, along with St. Maarten. My husband and I are fine with these changes. In fact the ship could be circling the Statue of Liberty for the whole 9 nights at this point lol. We just need a vacation! And this being our 10 year wedding celebration cruise means so much. We booked one excursion which is in St. Thomas. We decided to try that jet pack water rocket contraption that is the latest craze. I totally think I’m going to propel myself into an embarrassing and painful belly flop. But hey, when in Rome (or in this case St. Thomas). Our Genie Jay has been very good with communication and is quick to respond to any questions we have. We are looking forward to meeting him! Talk soon!

@CruisnMike35 Congrats on getting Simona! I have seen other people have really enjoyed her! We have Jay as our Genie. Something I requested for this sailing (since we are on the same sailing) is a reservation for the Valentine's Day dinner at chops. Normally this is an extra charge since it is a holiday dinner, other bloggers and Jay confirmed that for Star Class it is complimentary. I just had to let Jay know we wanted to do the special menu. that night and he is taking care of the rest! I requested for us to be scheduled at Coastal Kitchen 5 out of the 9 nights and the other four nights would be at each speciality restaurant except Wonderland. Hope. this helps and see you onboard!

So Jay has been communicating with us and he is very nice!!! He is also quick to respond which is awesome! I asked if he knew whether Labadee will be cancelled (which I am sure it will be) and he said we will be contacted of any changes closer to the time of cruise which I understand. I did ask about Thermal spa amenities and he said Star Class gets one day complimentary at the Thermal Spa. I asked if he could book us passes for the remainder of the cruise. On cruise planner, it only sells the passes for a 7 night cruise and we are on a 9 night. He said he will take care of it and it will be no problem. Also he is going to reserve us a table by the window with a server he feels is really great at Coastal Kitchen. We like to have consistency with servers on a cruise so can develop a rapport. Jay has been so great with making things happen! I love Star Class already !

ALERT! ALERT! We received our Genie letter this evening! I literally ripped the phone out of my husband's hand as he began proclaiming we received the letter! I had to see it for myself! He puts up with so much from me LOL Drumroll...... We have Genie Jay Galagate! Have heard good things about him and we are looking forward to hearing more from him as we get closer to cruise day! Stay Tuned!

One month from today!!! Fingers and toes are crossed that this cruise is going to still happen! We received our testing kits yesterday! I did not think I would ever be so happy to see a Covid test LOL!

Happy New Year! Chomping at the bit here as February 11th is only a little over a month away. A lot can happen in a month, hopefully for the better! At this point, we have decided that the only way we will cancel the cruise is if Royal cancels cruises completely which I do not foresee. We need to get away especially since it will be about two weeks after we move into our new house. Our backs will be screaming for a massage lol. Also, while I love snow and cold weather, we are already kind of over it lol. Had a big winter storm here yesterday and Delaware freaks out when it snows lol. Hope to check in soon with our genie letter!

Trying to figure out about tuxedo rentals. I chatted with @Booscruize (Shout out!!!) about this since they had a similar question for their fabulous wedding sailing. Has anyone had recent experiences with Royal's tuxedo rental service? My husband is going to call tomorrow and try to get more info on if the rentals are still available (He is off tomorrow from and I am not so he gets to wait on the phone for a frustratingly long time lol). Since we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary, we wanted to have something special to wear on formal nights/Valentine's Day. We also need something that is guaranteed to fit since moving has brought us to ordering take out .

This is a first for us as well! Looking forward to it! Everyone on here has been so helpful in expanding my knowledge on Star Class. @WAAAYTOOO, @Jax and @Lovetocruise2002 are among the great Star Class resources if you have any specific questions. Excited to meet you on board!