Big Red

We are boarding Wonder of the Seas in a few days. And a lot of the shows were sold out or booked before we were able to go online and reserve our times. But, we are in a Grand Suite and was able to talk to our concierge and we were able to book all the times, and show we wanted, and they reserved dining at our specialty dinning locals, and the sold out comedy club. Recommend talking with the concierge a week or two out when they send out there email greetings to you.

Oasis Class Ship Hands down. You would regret not gong on it over the Explorer. Oasis are pretty much the only class ship we go on now!

We have been there twice, and once in an over water Cabana(only work it if you can split the cost 8 ways). Same as everyone above said. Very secluded and the food is amazing! I always get the lobster when we visit, and there is just way less people to deal with. Plenty of shaded beach chairs, and amazing waters! We have seen everything from Conchs, Sharks, Stingrays, and a mix of other fish! The big negative(besides when the price is over $120), is the walk. Although you can wait for the shuttle that comes around, you may be waiting for awhile, or you have to trek all the way to the fathers part of the island away from the boat.....

Ask away, but, sometimes the Genie can't help with certain request. We got our last Genie who really went above and beyond, but you really know who you will get. Make sure to make request such as drinks choices, and what you expect to do, and favors to ask, to the genie in the questioniar sent out around 1-2 weeks before the. cruise.

I have had wonderful experiences with out last Genie on Royal, and horrible experience with our 1st Genie..... The 1st Genie literally just did the basics, got us reservations, held seats for shows, and got us on and off the ship(priority). It wasn't worth the cost, and anytime we asked for something like chocolates in our room, or some popcorn for a movie night, they would just tell us were to go get it..... It seemed this was the last days for this person on the boat. The last Genie we had did all the basics plus above and beyond! We got private shuttle service off the pier at COCO Cay,& St. Martin, behind the scenes of all the shows, got to see the bridge and crew quarters. We got what ever we asked for within typically 5-10mins tops(chocolate, band-aides, sunscreen, drinks, etc), including enough Sushi for our room party to feed 20 people! He got us some awesome parting gifts, and gave us a tour of the other Star Class Suites on the boat, on day of de-embarking. We also was with a party of 12 people(of which only 4 had Star Class), and he made sure all of them was able to join us with private reservations at the shows and dining. He even got us my favorite water & alcohol (not served on the ship) for our room, and to take home. Even in the Casino, if he saw me he would make a note to go to the closest waiter in my area and tell them to make sure me and my friends had a drink in there hands at all times, and that I didn't wait for anything. It was really worth it with the second experience.

Yes, I have won a few RoyalUp Bids. They will contact you about a week before the cruise if you win before the cruise, or you could be notified after you have boarded the boat as well( I have heard).

Get on a bigger and newer ship for starters. You went out on the low end of RC ships. The ships do have a change of service and new ships will always get better than the older ones.. Plus the crowds are starting to come back now, no more empty ships...

So they are not asking for proof of vaccination on the app, or at the dock when boarding?

I just go to Casino, as a dealer to get chips using my card. They pull from my onboard credits 1st. They also charge 5% regardless if it is OBC or credit card attached to the room. I play a couple of hands, then cash out my chips. This seems to be the common way to get left over Credits back in cash on most all cruises... Or I just buy some stuff for gifts or to take home for myself/wife..

Great now I don't know how many days until my next cruise! Now what I am going to do with the rest of my day!

Yep, the 1st time we asked for drinks it wasn't a huge deal as we where fairly close to the Costal Kitchen/Bar. But this coming room is the larger 2-bedroom aqua suite. And that walk is going to become tiring during a 7-day voyage. And we have heard of folks getting drinks delivered, but maybe that was pre-covid, as this all happened this year around January. We are just hoping for a different experience.

This happened back in January of this year, when the cruise ship was not full at all, on the Allure of the Seas. We didn't even get told about the genies contract ending until after we tried to reach out to them around 6:30pm the day before we got off the boat. The Genie told us they only had our room and one other.

We read somewhere where hard alcohol was allowed in the room. We have seen folks get drinks delivered, or at least seen cups of alcohol delivered to the room.. But, we could be wrong. And the same on candies, plus we would alway pay for the service if it cost additional. But, it was just the fact that they told us to go and get it, if we wanted it. We would have paid them for it either way....

I will start with that we have only cruised Star Class once and it was during the end of the pandemic this past January. They arranged all of our dining and saved spots for each us at the three major shows and comedy club show. Out side of that, the genie didn't do much else. We also only saw at most 3 times on the ship. We are easy going laid back folks and only asked for easy things(that we thought would be easy to be granted), like some candy and popcorn to watch some movies the last two nights of the cruise, and we got told sorry, that we would need to pay the extra $2-5 to get those items at the sugar treats store onboard the ship. Which I thought the genie would recover any cost, with the large tip we had planned to give them at the end of the cruise, but I guess not.... So no on candy, and popcorn. We also asked to have Jack Daniels or Crown Royal in the room(my drink of choice with a splash of coke), but was told those are only available at the bar, and I would need to go to the bar when ever I wanted one of those... To me, in the end, it wasn't worth it, and the genie even passed us off the night before debarkation(as there contract for the boat ended at 6pm the night before, and right at 6pm the phone to the genie was dead), so we didn't even get to say bye, or give them there tip in person(very rude), and yes we still tipped them(even though my wife didn't want too). But, the genie did leave us some goofy hats in our room... We have one more Star Class room coming up next month, and hope that it will change a little, with restrictions opening up a bit more. Plus we are traveling with a larger group of 12 (8 of which are not in our room). We are a month out, and we asked for these 4-5 things. We will update or add comments to the is post when we get a response, and what they could take care of. #1 We asked to get a particular Cabana in Coco Cay at the Beach Club (that we have already paid for). #2 I asked the Genie to arrange transport for us to and from the Beach Club Cabana.(just seeing if we didn't have to wait for transport) #3 I asked if they could schedule everyone in our group for dining at night with us(as everyone 'not in our room' does have unlimited drink & dining packages), just asked if they schedule a table for 12 each night. We also asked for sushi dinner to be served in the room for 12 people so that we can watch the water show the 1st night. #4. Lastly, we asked for the possibly a private behind the scenes tour behind the scenes of the ship. Will any of our requests this time get granted? Only time will tell> Stay Tuned....

Weather it is wrong or not. We still do it the old fashioned way. We do not prepay gratuities, and we will remove the automatic charges to our room daily, but we do pay each individual in cash at the end and sometimes the middle of the stay(sometime in envelopes, sometime in straight cash). In most instances we are paying way more than the automatic gratuities(specially for above and beyond service). I used to work in the service industry and it always seem with automatic payments that they either #1 reported against the persons taxes(person receiving tips), or #2 the larger organization skimmed off the gratuities meant for the workers. I just trust cash in hand over pre-paying for Gratuities.

That seems like a cheap upgrade to have Star Class and the biggest rooms on the boat. But, what do I know. Star class is basically free access to everything, and preferred treatment. Unless you already have Star Class in your suite, I would always try for the upgrade....

The Junior suite isn't as big of an upgrade as it is to Grand Suite. But, 100% you won't want to go back after you experience it!

This coming Sunday on Allure out of Fort Lauderdale.

We officially just got the upgrade and charged this morning! We got upgraded to Star Class Grand Panoramic Suite, on Allure of the Seas. Just today we got contacted from the suite concierge to let us know our Genie would be reaching out shorty! So stoked as this is our 1st experience in Star Class, and will most likely create blog on here before we sail out, to follow our experience in Star Class (1st timers), and to show/tell about the covid lock down procedures have changed since our last cruise in Oct 2021. Sharing our bidding on this was we where offered every room in Star Class room 2-bedroom Aqua Theater, to the Royal Star Loft suite(we where booked in Sky Class Loft Suite). We bid the following per person; Aqua Theater 2-bedroom max bid at $1,260 (min bid was around $360) Star Loft Suite mid-range bid $1,555 (min bid $540) *Grand Panoramic Suite just below mid range $2,200 (min bid $1,230) Owners Panoramic Suite just below mid range $2225 (min bid $1,800) Royal Star Loft Suite min bid $2,530(this one could go as high as around $5,500 max bid) Surprised they took our "just below mid range bid' on the Grand Panoramic vs our "max bid amount" on the 2-bedroom(as both where available online), maybe it was the higher price point and they wanted to fill the Star Class Rooms... Happy either way, if cruising on Allure this coming Sunday say hi! We are in room #1758! And I answer to Red(my hair color, and name of my business)

It does have to do with the bid amount, and as well where you are already currently booked at (room Rate). If you got a balcony and bid up to a suite, you have a better chance than if you have an interior trying to bid up to a suite. If someone has a higher bid than you and is in a higher category already it will go to the higher category with the higher or equal bid amount. It has nothing to do with on when the bid is placed... Plus they fill the top rooms 1st, then work there way down to what is left, when upgrading and filling rooms. Also if you have a bid pending and all others have expired, it is a good sign. But, it is still not guaranteed until they charge your card...

We have only had the opportunity twice to use RoyalUp. We bid on what we can afford, and what makes the best value. Our bid that was accepted in October was just below mid-range. The bid that we may have just got for next week, was lower, but no where close to the starting bid amount.

For my cruise next week I just checked the site and it says everything is expired, except one bid(usually a good thing in my previous experience with this). Looks like this may be the 1st time we will be sailing Star Class!

Not that I am aware of. Also depends what class/room you are bidding up from. We are bidding on Star Class from Loft Suit(Sky Class) on an upcoming cruise and bidding near the max. On our cruise from October of 2021 we bid around $1,000 per person to get a grand suite from our originally booked Balcony room and won(on Allure for 7-days). Making our total cost for grand suite for 7-day at around $3,800 for two people. We also met another couple on that cruise that also got a grand suite using the same bid amount. (Believe the min bid on that upgrade was $480). Hope that helps.

Also watch the expiration dates, have they have extended many of the expiration dates on many of the Antigen test back in October to 12 months since manufacturers date for certain test, and manufactures.