CravingaCruise

Bon Voyage!!!

Happy Dating Anniversary! I loved your title pic! I may have to borrow that idea for future blogs. Hope you have an amazing time! We're on Allure in May on deck 17! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Awww. That warms my heart! Thank you!

Really enjoying your blog. Having just been on Anthem, it's fun to follow along and know exactly what you're talking about. Enjoy!

Happy birthday! Loving the blog!

Very nice! When we were on Oasis in 2018, it was up in the Coastal Kitchen.

That's a pretty setting. What ship was that on?

OMG! I'm still finding those things! My husband tried pulling off as many as he could while on the cruise, but eventually gave up. I put on a pair of pants this morning that had one inside. The sad thing is that I've worn and washed these since I've been home.

That was the same Chef's Table menu we had on Anthem a couple of weeks ago. The chef talked about how he "created" the menu... My hubby (a HUGE foodie and our in-house chef...thanks to FoodTV) asked a question of the chef regarding the use of balsamic vinegar in the smoked tomato soup to enhance the smokiness, and the chef stumbled over himself a bit trying to figure out how to backup "his" method. I knew it wasn't "his" menu! It was good food though, so I wasn't disappointed at all. It just bugged me that he tried to pass it off as his own creation.

I can feel your excitement and you're in good company! You're going to love it! Just prepare your budget in advance - it's quite addicting! If I remember correctly, Yen said her contract was ending in January and she was planning to go home over Chinese New Year. Jay and Simona may still be on in February. I've heard great things about Jay, and Simona helped us out with our reservation scramble while at the BeachClub on CocoCay. After that, we saw her everywhere and she's adorable. Congrats on 10 years!

OMG! You're hilarious! Loving your blog!

Exactly! You're a very entertaining writer! I've laughed aloud and made my hubby stop what he was doing so I could read your blog to him several times already! I can't wait to see what you write with Siri after you've had a few drinks!

I love your writing style and I'm looking forward to your blog! I was originally going to quote something above and respond to that, but there were so many lines that made me laugh out loud that I couldn't pick one. We're in a CLS on Allure in May so I can't wait to read about your experiences! I hope you have a fabulous trip!

Thank you for such a fun read! I love your humor and excitement over every experience! We were cruising just after you, so I'm just getting caught up on some of the blogs. I saw your embarkation video yesterday, which has inspired me to book another cruise - we haven't yet stayed in the "gated community" and I so desperately want to! It sounds like you had an amazing experience. Congrats on the East Coast nuptials...what an amazing experience!

Thank you! I'm so glad you liked enough to think about re-reading it! That warmed my heart!

This sounds like so much fun! We're doing Allure SC in September of next year so we'll be following your blog to see how things go. Wishing it was the same date as you all seem like you would be fun to cruise with! I'm sure your genie's will love you guys!

Thank you so much!

Thank you! I'm so glad it was a good read! That's what I was hoping for!

Thank you! I had fun sharing our experience with everyone! Tim had fun sharing with others on the ship. I'm pretty sure others are now thinking of Star Class for future cruises. Royal should pay us. Although, I tried to tell him that it's hard enough to book these cabins and should keep it to himself. "Humbling" is so right! I was hungry just a bit ago and all I wanted to do was send a message to Yen to have her send something to us. I would have done it to be funny, but she has a new set of guests to pamper. It's amazing how quickly you get used to the royal treatment! Hubby put on the genie hat and took care of dinner tonight.

Thank you so much @Yesiamthere !! I will watch for your blog. I've got a new addiction...Star Class. Hopefully, we'll get to hear that you won big!

Disembarkation Day - Cue the tears... After sleeping off the amazing dinner and wine, we got up at 5am and put ourselves together to start the packing party. While I threw things (the small things and clothes) off the balcony to the sofa bed below (which was kinda fun), Kenzie got her bags packed. By the time everything was cleared from upstairs our coffee and fruit arrived and we took a 10 minute break to get the caffeine down. Then it was packing the rest of the bags, checking and rechecking the drawers, closets, etc to make sure we didn't forget anything. I'm so glad we didn't try to go to breakfast this morning. The packing was pretty relaxed and not rushed at all, so it was a good way to end. Kenzie really liked the Malin + Goetz Body Lotion and asked Yen if we were able to take it off the ship. She said she didn't think so but would check. A few minutes later, Raj appeared at the door with a parting gift for Kenzie. Yen appeared at 8:20am with a porter as per our previous arrangements and we were ready to go. The porter took our large bags and disappeared and we each rolled our small bags behind Yen leading the way. We got down to deck 5 and followed her through the sea of people right to the front of the line. We checked out with our sea pass cards and were off the ship, just like that. She led us down to the luggage area where we met our porter with our bags and over to the customs area where we said our goodbyes. We then went through the facial scanner, got the green light, and away we went to the parking garage. We were in our car within 15 minutes of leaving our room - only because I was walking slowly. Gifts: I just realized that I never revealed the gifts we gave Yen. I got a little carried away and ended up with five different things for her. We started with a beginning tip on day 1, then on days 2-6 we gave her wrapped gifts, then her final tip on day 7. Her gifts were always taken away and she opened them in private as she is quite a humble and private individual - except for the last gift that we asked her to open in front of us so we could explain. Gift #1: Bath & Body Works Lotion Gift #2: Leather bound journal and pen - I was going to have this monogrammed but then Kenzie started teasing me, so I didn't. Gift #3: Tote Bag Monogramed with a "Y" Gift #4: Coach clutch/wristlet - big enough for her phone plus other items. Gift #5: Set of personalized pens in 10 different colors The reason we had to explain the last gift is that we had them personalized with a message that was written in Maylay, but we found out after placing the order that I missed a key word in the translation. They were supposed to read "Yen Lee - Amazing Genie". However, I missed a conjugal verb that ended up changing the meaning. They instead read "Yen Lee - Shocking Genie". She got a kick out of it and we all had a good laugh over it. Our buzz word on day 7 became "shocking". We have officially left the ball, and our beautiful carriage has turned back into a pumpkin. We're home and have entered back into the real world where we have to make our own bed, do our own dishes, make our own food, do our own laundry, and go back to work tomorrow. We miss you Yen !! This is NOT our last Star Class cruise!

Day 7 (posted on day Today we slept in...a little. We took our coffee and fruit in the room at 8am and were trying to get to breakfast by 9am, but didn't quite make it in time. As we were about to leave for breakfast, I remembered that I had wanted to take our thank you cards to the Coastal Kitchen crew since that would be our last meal there...sniff. Just a side note on Coastal Kitchen. I know I've said it before, but Jacob runs an amazing restaurant and crew; it is truly top notch. He is all about making his guests feel like they're the only guests on board, and leads his amazing team by example! I used up most of the thank you cards on that team alone. Since we were still full from yesterday's lunch, Tim had a ginger ale soda, I had a yogurt and Kenzie got a few single items. Sid kept waiting for more in our order and was shocked when Tim got nothing else. In fact, all of the amazing folks who check on us all the time kept asking where his food was. Jacob kept offering to feed him every time he stopped by. It was hilarious. Oh - and he only drank half of his soda! It was finally time for bumper cars! We had them on the schedule three different times, but only one held for us as R&R ruled this vacation. We were finally not so full from a meal that we could do something. We had just a little time before we were supposed to meet Yen, so Kenzie headed back to the room to grab something, and Tim and I headed to the Diamond Lounge to catch Leonardo to say thanks for his detective work regarding Yen's phone. He is so funny and said he had so much fun doing it. We all met back up again at the bumper cars and Yen was there waiting for us (as always). I sat out of the fun since my calves were pretty tight (it's a thing for me), and I just wanted to relax. Tim and Kenzie were ushered to the front of the line when it was time for them to get on and then they stayed on for a second round, when everyone else had to get off. They had a blast ramming into complete strangers. There were a few out on the floor who were, let's say, up there in age and I was a little nervous for them. Hoping they didn't end up in traction afterwards. The seatbelts in the cars are the cross-body style versus a harness-style. Kenzie got a rub mark on the side of her neck that resembled a hickey so we got to tease her about it for the rest of the day. Kenzie was signed up for IFly for a second time and today she got to do the extended fly for an additional minute. Before we went over, Yen went and found a ping pong ball for me to give to the guys. I don't recall if I told you or not, but when Kenzie was in watching her video for the first flying experience, the guys were bouncing a ping pong ball around at the desk and it rolled out on deck. I tried to stop it to keep it from going overboard, and I stepped on it, killing the ball. I took them a peace offering to replace the one that was put to rest a few days ago. There were four people in Kenzie's group this time, and she was the only one doing it for a second time. Her instructor gave her some additional instructions, and she did great! He actually let go of her and let her fly a bit on her own quite a bit, which was fantastic. The entire time she had a smile from ear to ear! If you're ever able to watch someone do this, you have to watch their faces - their cheeks flap in the wind the entire time and it's hilarious <insert cartoon leaf-blower to the face gif>. It was about time for lunch and we chose to be on our own today without any reservations (which was a little daring considering the pub experience). Since we wanted something light preparing for Chef's Table tonight, we decided to try out the Dog House up by the sports court. It didn't look appealing to Kenzie and I, but Tim decided to try one. He took it to go and we went down to Johnny Rockets to try our luck there. I got a small burger, Kenzie got some loaded french fries, and Tim and I got an order of onion rings to share. While we were waiting for our order, Kenzie ran over to get an ice cream cone. This was her first and only cone on the ship, so I'm glad she got one finally. Tim's hotdog sucked, so he was happy he had the onion rings to fall back on. He still wasn't super hungry, so the few onion rings hit the spot. Incidentally, the manager at Johnny Rockets (Valeriano) is outstanding. When we got there, we were the only customers and it was a bit windy and chilly. We initially sat at a booth, but the manager told us the best place to sit to be away from the wind was over in the corner and helped Tim move our stuff. He also made sure we got our waters and was amazingly attentive. Again, I don't know if that's because we're SC or just because that's who he is - I tend to believe that's who he is. We went back down to the Promenade to say thanks to a few people who stood out to us, and stopped in for more macaroons and an afternoon Starbucks. It was almost time to meet Yen at the Royal Theater for the Andy Elton show, and along the way, Kenzie and I stopped in at the Music Hall bar and each got a shot of Bailey's to put into our coffees. Yum! We had previously asked Yen if it would be okay to add two others to our reserved seats for the show and invited along one of the other couples we had met at CocoCay. We actually invited both, but we couldn't reach the other couple, so it was just the five of us. She said no problem, and we all met her outside of the theater at 1:45pm to be ushered to our fabulous seats and watch the others around us get all upset. The Andy Elton tribute to Elton John show was phenomenal !! He has amazing talent and we're big fans of all Elton John music. In fact, Tim and I got to see Elton John in concert a couple of years back when he was in Tampa Florida. This was Andy's last show for Royal Caribbean as his contract ends at the end of our cruise and he's off to another adventure. Royal really "missed the boat" by not keeping him. Of the talent we saw/heard on the ship, he was the best vocal, hands down. After the show we headed back to our room to relax a bit more, put together any remaining thank you notes, and get ready for dinner. Kenzie and I got a bit dolled up and I actually put on a bit of makeup (first time this trip) to cover up my red nose from peeling away my sunburn (It was the only place on my face that I burned - clearly I had missed my nose with sunscreen). After dinner, I was wishing I had stuck with the stretchy pants. Dinner at Chef's Table was amazing !! We had Chef Anton and Sommelier Anton (2 different people). It was quite scripted throughout the evening, which is unlike our first experience with Chef's Table on Oasis a few years back, which took away from the experience, just a tad, but not terribly. Chef Anton is from Jamaica and is pretty young. He shared that he has a restaurant in Jamaica and is about to open another in Africa. The food was outstanding, so if it was is creation, kudos to him. He wasn't super well spoken, which we attributed to his youth, and Tim decided to ask a question about the use of balsamic vinegar (off script) and he fumbled through the answer a bit. Tim thanked him, but later disclosed to me that he wasn't satisfied with his answer, and vowed to look it up. Sommelier Anton was visited by the restaurant (Chop's) manager part way through his performance and the manager quizzed him on several things regarding the red wine that is served with our main course. It seemed somewhat staged, but was engaging and offered an opportunity to share more details about the wine. Our dinner was shared with only one other couple and they were also SC. We found a lot to talk about, and poor Sommelia Anton always felt like he was interrupting us when it was time to move onto the next wine. We told him he needed a bell, so for the next course, he came back with a butter dish cover that looked like a bell and he used a knife to ding it lightly. It was fantastic! After dinner, we all seriously needed wheelchairs to get back to our rooms. We were miserably full, and as soon as I got off the elevator, the shoes came off. As soon as we all got back to our room, PJs went on! We were supposed to pack tonight, but we're all going to bed early instead. Thankfully, as SC we get to take our luggage off the ship when we get off. One more sleep...so sad!

Thank you! We did Chef's Table tonight and it was spectacular. That will be in our next post - stay tuned.

Of course you may ask! There was no charge for the extended North Star experience on our account. Anything that was normally a charge and got reversed shows in our accounting, but we didn't see anything for North Star. I believe it's no charge for SC.

Not at all. We made a point to communicate to Yen in advance that we didn't want afternoon snacks or an abundance of extra things like that. There seems to be a very good balance for what we're requesting, receiving, and expecting. Yen has shared that she would be willing to do much more than what we have requested, but we're really all about the food experiences and a few of the activities, but mostly just relaxing in our amazing cabin. Yen is very good at what she does, and she has things coordinated very well. We gave her a lot of information up front so she knew what would make our cruise exactly what we hoped for. She is a maestro in so many ways.