sammy79

Oh I am having plenty of talks with myself; a little voice is telling me to release the hold I have on a star class suite over Christmas 2024. 😆  I agree, the policy should apply to “no shows” which would still allow flexibility for some last minute changes.  All these “little” changes can reach a point where people look elsewhere.  

I missed the context of all the car and luggage at first and i thought, what, did you take like a 48-hour cruise?! It can't be over already! 😆
Your slot pull looks successful! Lots of happy faces. Well done! 🤑😍
But seriously, are we not talking about the $15 charge for canceling a dinner without 24-hour notice? Isn't that what the Genie is all about, giving flexibility? Ask within reason and you shall receive?
We have never (nor would we ever) not show up for a scheduled dinner, last minute, without notifying our Genie.
That said, this change sux. NCL is happy to cancel you last minute, and they do if you're not there to check in 15 minutes past your reservation time. I guess i would feel better if they had the fee for "no shows" only. I would support that because that's just rude unless someone is dead or dying. But this doesn't seem very star classy to me. Royal was smart to go the nonrefundable deposit route because otherwise I'd cancel Symphony in a heartbeat with the continued deterioration of SC perks while concurrently escalating price points (exponentially so).

Kudos from a fellow Coke snob.  I HATE a fountain soda.
If a server told me that all I could get was a fountain soda I would have calmly asked that person to please contact the Genie and have him come to the CK for a quickie consultation.  I'm sure that would have solved your problem. ☺️

Quick update, hopefully more later today.  New rule on ship:  You have to cancel your dinner reservations by the evening (can get stretch it to the morning of) dinner reservations, or be charged $15 a person, even for star class. We are fine with that, but gone for dinners is the “flying by your pants”.  
We are now stopped in the middle of the ocean, waiting for rescuers for a disabled boat. Perfect location to see all the action from our balcony.  We can’t leave until someone comes to pick them up.  More later. 

My only knock on this ship (other than pricing) is appearance.  To me, the ship is ugly.  Once boarded, it doesn’t matter in the least.  But, I feel like in the zeal to pack so much onto one ship, aesthetics got very short shrift.  I prefer RC to Disney.  But, you have to admit that those Disney ships are just beautiful from afar.  The Oasis class started the path down less than beautiful ships from the outside.  This one seems to complete the journey.

Star Class does not include complimentary bottles of wine or liquor delivered to your suite.  There will be a complimentary bottle of champagne (I think you can substitute wine if you let the Genie know ahead of time) on boarding day but that’s probably all you can expect for “free”.  It makes little sense to me since you can order virtually unlimited individual drinks to be delivered but they won’t bring you a bottle.  It is what it is.
You CAN get unlimited beer, wine, soda, water and juice stocked in your SC suite but you will have to pay for wine if you want it.  In years past, they kept your suite WELL stocked with beverages - sometimes even when you didn’t request them - but I think they are far more reserved with such things these days.  There was always waaay more than we could ever eat or drink on hand back then.  It’s a good policy change, IMO.

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!

I totally agree with you.  I don’t believe for one second this has ANYthing to do with CBP.

I received a second follow up call on my feedback; this one from a supervisor in the shoreside team. Much like the call from corporate the disembarkation process was the first thing she wanted to discuss. Both had me walk them through the old process vs the one we experienced last week. While she was interested in the rest of my feedback, I got the impression the disembarkation process was the primary reason for the call today. She said it would be escalated so time will tell what happens.  🤷‍♀️

Now sitting in 270 for Captain’s Corner with both girls. Hubby is still at the FlowRider lol
D17 just said to me, “I thought this was supposed to be an informative talk, people are just venting their complaints.” 😂

On a side note, our loft attendants have been making the most amazing towel animals that I have ever seen on any cruise. 

We were on the ship just long enough to contemplate life and consider this next challenge.
The Polar Plunge.
They gathered victims, I mean participants by deck number.

Too late to back out now.




I survived!

Back in my suite I was able to watch some other participants enjoying the plunge.

I honestly agree with your review.  I feel the same way.  another thing about the aq suites is that the towels are different than on 17.I think because of the locations where the attendents have to pick up supplies.
I have one more Star booked on the 
Inaugural Utopia and that is it for me unless I find a really really good deal.  Cutbacks, Star inconsistency makes it hard to pay current prices. I too have had conversation with coporate after my survey and there are no changes.  

I saw these for the first time on Wonder in Nov. I can actually hear Danny from Harr Travel praising the upgraded Malin + Goetz bathroom amenities in one of his suite reviews. 😂

Flat $20 on Symphony though the tag says $16.95..they charged gratuity on the cup 🙄

Some final thoughts: 
Berty was a star this week. ⭐️ 🌟 💫 He delivered an amazing experience for us. We have never had a repeat genie but it was even better than I imagined. Pre cruise communication was non existent after our initial phone call because I knew Berty would take care of everything.  He is one of a kind, hard working, kind and willing to fulfill any request. 
The 2 bedroom ATS remains one of our favorites for the 2 bedrooms, large deck and aft views. We have stayed in several different star class rooms and have decided there is no perfect suite for us. There are features and qualities we like about all of them.
I have avoided western Caribbean cruises because we are not thrilled with the stops; particularly Mexico. Well we actually enjoyed this cruise the most. It was the best weather we have ever had, virtually no wind except for the last day. Our day at Paradise Beach was fantastic. The tour operators were way more organized than what we experienced on Eastern Caribbean cruises. Our least favorite port was Roatan and we would likely stay on the ship next time. 
We had a great week with our friends. As our boys graduate we realized it’s up to us to keep these traditions going. There were several times I looked around to see laughter, smiles and a great time being had. And you all know how much fun we had with the photos. 😆😆
We loved being able to dine with our friends 5 nights this cruise.  It was a treat for them as well. We have Berty to thank 💜💜 
Elevators were a mess this week. Worst we have ever experienced in our 4 Christmas cruises. Fortunately we were on 9, not deck 17 and could use the stairs most of the time.  
The star class flowrider session worked in Lindsay’s favor this week; essentially it was him and 1-2 other people but I still have mixed feelings on this one.  
The ship seemed to run hot; at least during the hours we were out and about. 
There are a few things going in the comment card (GITCC). I am annoyed with the changes to disembarkation and felt the bridge tour was a letdown. 
This one didn’t affect us but it did our friends. WJ hours changed for the Christmas and New Years sailings and they were closed from 3-6pm. Berty said the changes were made to accommodate picture taking that begins at 5:30pm. It’s definitely going in their comment card as it made them late for every dinner reservation as they had to get food for their special needs daughter. According to them there were some very long lines at the jammer all week, morning and at 6pm. 
The spa service is terrible.  I touched on it earlier but it’s consistently bad on all the ships we have sailed on. I use the thermal suite out of necessity to maintain my routine and health while travelling; otherwise I would avoid it.  GITCC.
Our stateroom attendant was a very nice man but I agree with @Lovetocruise2002 it’s hard to service 24 rooms and a star class suite.  He may not have the same experience that the attendents do on deck 17 but he tried hard and that goes a long way in my book. We gave him some consumables to enjoy and a cash tip. 
With star class pricing that is nuts and the diminishing perks I will have to think hard about what our future vacations look like. If Europe doesn’t work out I will likely rebook to avoid losing our deposit but beyond that I honestly don’t know. 
All that being said our vacation was fantastic! I didn’t think I could top last years vacation but the boys said I did so that makes my heart happy ❤️
Thanks everyone for following along the last couple weeks. Feel free to ask any questions.  
 

I have to say the first time we did Star Class in Spring of 2019, we bragged to anyone who would listen about how great embarkation and disembarkation was in SC on our Dec 2019 Haven cruise. I'm pretty sure we made several converts. 
Having sailed SC in Fall and Haven over Thanksgiving, we were no longer bragging at all. In fact, we met some other disenfranchised SC Cruisers where SC was no longer their first choice. SC really lost its luster there. And i did mention that as well in the past cruise survey and follow up. I had hoped that my stating very clearly that their embarkation and disembarkation in SC was now EXACTLY the same as Haven would tick them off and motivate them into action. In fact, i give the nod to Haven now for disembarkation because you use the service elevator and you are taken directly to the scan off point, where another Haven escort awaits you once off the ship to point you to your luggage. 

Happening now  
End of 3rd Quarter 23-3 Texans 

Going in the comment card. I stole it from @SweetPea 😉

It is super noisy! It’s about 6:45am and I should be sleeping but cannot because there has been loud noises on the street and pool since 4am. 
We are on Deck 8. It’s low. If I come back here in the future, I would probably try to ask for a higher room. We like this place, but if I had one complaint, this would be it. The noise is terrible. 
Yay!! 

I was actually quite worried that I would not be able to get it back. Thank God for theses small blessings. 😊

Made it to FLL! Our bag made it too! However, this trip was not totally uneventful, instead of bag left behind, it was iPhone left behind. As I was getting off the plane, my phone must have fallen out of my pocket. I did not realize I dropped it until we were in baggage claim. Had to go back through security and again, small blessings, it was with the gate agent. Not my brightest moment, that’s for sure.
I see what @asquared17 means now about moving the ride share area further down. It was a hike with luggage! 
Off to the hotel now. Will check in later! 

Oh, and there is ice cream in the WJ (one of my girls found this quickly)!

I am happy to say that other than going to bed early tonight, there is not much else I can do.
I am also excited to show you guys my newest Beis additions for this trip. Bought it for myself as a birthday gift last month. I told @Jax to talk me out of it, but she was no help. 

Moving on to our NYE sailing on Odyssey of the Seas…
This is our first time on Odyssey. We were booked on the original inaugural sailing of this ship with quite a few others from this blog community. That was cancelled by the pandemic, and this NYE was our first opportunity to re-book this ship. I booked this sailing the day new itineraries were released. I am truly looking forward to this. I feel like OY got lost a bit in the shuffle by Wonder, and then Icon, but she is still fairly new and has a lot to offer.
As many of you know, I am not a fan of Quantum class ships, however, I am intrigued by how OY will differ.
Who’s Going?
Me, Hubby, D17, D15
Flight
Delta from DTW-FLL; booked through Air2Sea. Flying in on the 29th (tomorrow!) as our family policy is now 2 days early if we can swing it. Flight prices are horrendous for this trip, even compared to past NYE trips that we have taken. We were able to price it down a few times before final payment, but it was still double what we paid last year at this time. We even contemplated driving down, but in the end, Hubby was not up for that. Hopefully this doesn’t backfire, and he ends up driving anyway!
Pre-Cruise Stay
I booked our pre-cruise hotel for this trip the as soon as hotels released prices for our dates. The first reason was because I knew from the last few NYE sailings we’ve done; these hotels sell out fast and prices skyrocket the closer you get. Also, booking early allows me to grab the room type that I wanted because there was something specific that I had in mind.
When we sailed out of Port Everglades in the past, we have always stayed on 17th Street. I cannot even remember a time when we did not. However, because we are flying in 2 days early, and because we have no idea which, or if any freeloaders will be cruising with us for future NYE sailings, we wanted this one to be a bit more special. D15 has always looked longingly at the beach during our PE sail aways. She always asks why we cannot stay along the beach (Hello child, you know this family loves La Bamba right?), so for this pre-cruise stay, we are doing just that.
I have always wanted to try the Conrad on Fort Lauderdale Beach, however @Jax persuaded me to try out the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. I was really impressed by her review on this property last year and I’ve been following them on Instagram for about a year now. I think this property is a better fit for the 4 of us over the Conrad. In addition, I persuaded D17’s best friend to stay there with her family back in September, and they loved it as well, so we are pretty excited for our stay.
This will sadly mean that we have to Uber/Lyft our way to our beloved La Bamba.
Itinerary
29 DEC Arrive Fort Lauderdale, Florida
30 DEC FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
31 DEC FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA (Cruise Day !)
01 JAN PERFECT DAY COCOCAY, BAHAMAS
02 JAN CRUISING
03 JAN LABADEE, HAITI
04 JAN PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REP
05 JAN CRUISING
06 JAN FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
Cabin
The recurring theme for our next few family sailings is, “Go Big, or Go Home” because D17 is graduating high school this June and we have no idea what that means for sailing as a family of 4 in the future. For this sailing, we will be revisiting a cabin that we fell in love with when we sailed Anthem to Norway.
Pre-Cruise thoughts
-        This is probably one of the most relaxed sailings for me in terms of pre-cruise planning. With two beach days (PDCC and Labadee), Hubby and the girls are going to do their beach things and I will likely not get off the ship at all, except for the day in Puerto Plata.
-        Long time blog members, @recogneyesand @WannaCruise will be on this sailing too. Hoping that we can find a time to finally meet each other. Canadians need to stick together lol
-        This was unfortunately one of the first times where both hotel and cruise fare never dropped since initial booking. Both were booked on the day it was released, and prices have just climbed over time. Zero opportunities for price adjustments this time around.
-        Once again, in the spirit of a live blog, please do not hesitate to ask any questions.  I will do my best to find out whatever I can for you.
-        When responding to a post with a series of pictures, please do not include the pictures in your reply.  It just makes for easier scrolling.
-        Lastly, I will try to post videos and stories on Instagram.  You can follow me @lovetocruise2002