Sokko

My wife and I recently went on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Harmony of the Seas out of Galveston and thought I would share my trip review. This was our first Star Class experience and we didn't really know what to expect. For what its worth, my wife and I are, what we believe to be, low maintenance. We arrived at the terminal around 11 am and the parking lot was busy!!! It took us about 15 minutes to get from the entrance of the lot to the drop off spot for Star class #6. Once there, our luggage was taken by the Star Class Attendant and we were walked right in and the check in process was quick and painless. We were in the suite waiting area less than a minute when our Genie Claudio met us and another one of his rooms and he took us right in to the ship. We entered Deck 5 and I asked the Genie if we could get our visit to the muster station done as it was in the main dining hall on deck 5 ( visible from where we were standing). He said he would prefer to take us to our rooms and let us come back later on our own. Once inside the cabin, a Star Loft, Claudio went over our itinerary. -backstory The Shore "Genie" Jerryme caused more work than if there would have been no communication before getting on the ship. He reached out about 4 weeks before the cruise. We exchanged about 3 emails each. After the first email I'm not sure he read any of the others. We requested which restaurants we wanted to eat at, mentioned a few we didn't want to go to and he just added all the restaurants whether we wanted them or not. I also mentioned that we were celebrating my wife's birthday on day 2 and that I was hoping for a cake and some room decorations. I wasn't too worried because I kept reading that there were similar problems with other cruisers and that the ship's Genie would take care of everything. Back to Day one of the cruise Our Genie Claudio took care of everything. Any reservation we wanted, and show any time, he got it done. No worries. Days 1-5 there was always some kind of treat waiting for us, Charcuterie boards, chocolate covered strawberries and cookies were the norm. Day 2 when we came back from lunch the room was decorated for my wife's birthday celebration. It was a surprise to have this done for her. It even had a gift from Claudio which was really unexpected and very nice!! The cake was made from towels. Not what I expected. My wife asked me if I requested an edible cake. I did not, guess that's on me. Still very nice that they set this up. We ate at Hibachi. The host sat us then explained to the table what each dining package covered. Then he looked at my wife and I and said order anything you want it is all covered. We ordered Sushi ( a full roll) the hibachi and I had a small carafe of warm saki (one of my only drinks). We received 4 receipts, all totalled 0$. The only food or drink item that we paid for on the ship was cotton candy on the boardwalk (3.98 each) and a nonalcohol pineapple drink on the promenade. For dinners Claudio would come in to the restaurant about 5 minutes after we were seated to make sure everything was as expected. The shows our Genie would meet us outside the venue to escort us to reserved seats and get us drinks if we needed. For shore excursions our Genie would meet us at the elevators to cut any lines and escort us to the disembarkation location. Our room steward and his apprentice were great. Days 1-5 it seemed that any time we would leave the room when we came back the room was made up like new. We aren't alcohol drinkers much so we had different sodas in the suite. When we were low we texted our Genie and almost immediately they were restocked. We never had to ask again as they were filled almost daily after that. Day 2 our Genie said there was a flowrider time set aside for star guests at 9am. That was the only time any star class event was mentioned. Days 6 and 7 were a little different. I don't remember any snacks in the room. We did use room service and our Genie said to text him or if we called room service our suite was on a priority list so the food was delivered super quick. Also on day seven we had 2 tours, the galley tour and the navigation area. Also on day seven we requested the tip form to have the tips added to out on board account. Tips are included as part of the Star Class amenities, except for the Genie and room stewards to my knowledge. We tipped our Genie 750.00 room steward 150.00 and apprentice steward 75.00. We also tipped anyone that dropped off room service 3-5 per trip. It was an amazing trip, we had so much fun. I'm not sure if star class was worth the extra money. My wife and I agreed that we weren't wowed, but it was a great experience. Hope this helps if you haven't tried star class yet. For those that have, is there anything we could have done differently to experience more?

Thanks for the quick response. You are alwways so helpfull!!

Does anyone have information on the balcony in an Aft Grand Loft on Odyssey of the seas at night? I am wondering if there are any outside lights that would hamper your vision at night when looking at the sea. I stayed in an aft balcony on Independence of the seas and with all the metal work, and lights, it was impossible to see anything at night. Pictures would be awesome!!! Thanks in advance

That's awesome, thanks for posting!!

Alright!!!! I was hoping that someone would get this thread started. My wife and I are booked for this cruise. This will be our first over Halloween cruise, do people dress up at all?

We stayed at the Harbor House and loved it. It was walking distance to many restaurants. I felt very safe walking around. We sat on a bench and saw a dolphin. The desk concierge was super helpful and even ordered our food from a local restaurant for us. This was back before the new terminal. Our next cruise is in October 24 and we plan on staying there again. Hope you have fun!!!

Awesome!!!! I can't wait to dig into that post. Thank you again!!!

We also have 1722. We are super excited. Did you have a blog for that trip?

Way late to the party, but Happy Anniversary!! A few questions and comments if you have the time. My wife and I booked our first SC on Harmony and was wondering how soon the bags made it to your room? Since you said that there is a special porter for SC I was hoping that they almost followed you up. I loved the balcony views you had!! The noise levels. Was it loud every night, or were there a few nights with nothing going on in the aqua theater? Your husband sounds awesome. I'm a big Star wars fan and played hockey (into my 30's at least) as well. One of your stops was in St Maarten, was the Yoda guy still there? And lastly you were thinking of an AFT balcony on a Freedom Class ship? I was on Independence of the Seas in an aft JS and the steel beams were a major distraction. During the day it was ok, but at night, I couldn't even see the water. The white beams were lit up with all the ambient light. Would not book that again. Thank you so much for the blog!!!!

Thank you for your eloquently written live blog. I really appreciated all the effort and since I have to wait till 2024 to take my next cruise, it allowed me to travel through your eyes. I did have one question. I do understand not liking tomatoes, but enjoying tomato sauce as I do as well. But how can you not like mushrooms but like truffles!!!!! Thanks again, hope your arm feels better soon.

That's awesome. My first trip to St Maarten I didn't know he was there and was super excited to see that shop that looked like it was from Tatooine. Greedo is one of my favorite characters, so the museum was a treat. My wife and I are booked on our first star class cruise (deck 17) and I really appreciate your blogs. Thanks for posting!!!

Thanks so much for the blog and review. My wife and I booked our first SC suite and are trying to find all the information we can on it. This was so helpful!!

Majesty of the Seas July 1995. I remember the midnight buffet with all the ice sculptures, sitting at dinner with 4 other couples that we did not know, but got to know by the end of the cruise. Taking pictures on an old 35 mm camera, then waiting 2 weeks once you got back home to get them developed. The ships and times sure have changed.

Yep, that worked. Thanks all!!

More of a technical question, but can I search the forum by content that I have "liked". I read something 2 weeks ago that I wanted to see the outcome of. Thanks in advance!!