drdestructo

My wife and I were also doing a B2B and made the changes as Ashley did.

My wife, father and sister and I will be joining you on this cruise. My dad and sister are flying in from Chicago as well. My wife and I live in Orlando. Pheenix, Ampurp85 is doing a Side to Side to Side cruise going from Mariner of the Seas, to the Wonder of the Seas and finishing with the Allure all out of Port Canaveral. It is like a back to back to back cruise only not on the same ship. Look forward to seeing you all on board!

My wife Martha and I and our dear friends Mike and Marge will be joining you on the cruise. Looking forward to ICON.

The last booking I see available arrival time for check-in on my cruise a few weeks before your departure is 2pm to 2:30pm.

Early Like

We just received our Odyssey block this past Saturday (earned January 2022).

My father and wife both use scooters. Since we live in the Orlando area, when sailing out of Port Canaveral, we bring the scooters from home. When traveling out of any of the other Florida Ports we use Special Needs at Sea (link in the post above). Customer Service has been outstanding. In some cases they will have the scooters available before you enter the Port for processing near the Parking garage, if not, we arrange for wheelchair assistance onto the ship and the scooters are waiting in our rooms. Using the scooters provide much more independence for my dad and wife. Good luck!

Just off Oasis. Room Service and Genies were allowed in our suite.

I was on Odyssey a few weeks ago. I am a big man (approx. 320). We were in Star Class on the cruise. We did a private North Star and just had my wife, dad and i and one other couple. I asked about the weight and they said it was no problem since it was the total weight of the passengers they were looking at. They added a wheelchair for dad, since he was unable to stand for the entire ride.

When we were on our over the water cabana September 18th, we were able to order items from the Snack Shack as well. As mentioned the food is very good, but we have a younger person who was more into the Snack Shack menu. Our Cabana attendants were happy to oblige.

2400

You are in for a treat, they were all exceptional!

The only other thing that stood out to us was that Romina spoke of her cat back home. She is a cat lover and showed us a picture of her The only other thing that stood out was Romina is a cat lover. She showed us a picture of her cat and spoke of how when she returns home, the cat always wants to remain by her side. Enjoy your time in 1740! It is an awesome suite and you will love it!

Day 8 – Disembarkation and final thoughts Darn…no Starbucks delivery today. We went to Coastal Kitchen at 6:30am and told Romina we would be at the room ready at 7:30am. Everyone already was all packed, so after our final breakfast on the ship, we met back at the suite where Romina had a porter gather our bags and follow us off the ship. She had Martha and my dad drive their scooters to get off the ship. Romina was able to walk us up to the elevators that would take us to customs. Hugs were exchanged and she asked me to text her when we got home. When we got downstairs, we were met by another Star Class representative. Martha relinquished he scooter which another porter took back to the room. Our luggage was transferred to another porter who would take it all the way to our vehicles. We were led to facial recognition scanners and very quickly passed through to the parking garage. From the room to packing our cars and leaving was a little over 20 minutes. Remarkable…I love Star Class. Final Thoughts There was much anticipation and anxiety leading up to this trip. We were so relieved that we got to go. My family says that Star Class lived up to my hype and then some. I am pleased that we were able to share this with our friends and family. We were very pleased with Romina, she was different than Susan Flannery, our first Genie, but equally as good. She had 4 rooms to attend to on this cruise including our party of 6, but we never felt slighted in any way. Romina was good at anticipating our needs and was very good at responding to my pre-cruise emails. Cruising was different due to Covid-19, and masking in certain parts of the ship was mandatory. We had determined early on that if that was what we need to cruise, then so be it. For us it was really a minor inconvenience. Most of the areas we liked to spend on the ship were where we could take them off…Theaters, Restaurants, Solarium, Casino and of course our suite. Royal has done a fantastic job with the protocols they have in place. It was nice to have servers in Windjammer, drink stations, at the soft serve area on the pool deck etc., because…well, people will be people. Enough said. We felt very comfortable and safe on the ship. We were asked to bring documentation for our shore excursions in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Martha and I have another Star Class cruise on the Oasis in the Ultimate Panoramic Suite in April of 2022. Based on their experience here, the remainder of the family is seeking to possibly book Star Class as well…we may have created Star Class monsters. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Bob aka drdestructo

Day 7 – Coco Cay My wife and I are experienced cruisers, but we had never been to Coco Cay. Weather, tendering problems, and Covid all got in the way our eight previous attempts. Will the ninth time be the charm? We had a cabana booked at the Coco Beach Club. Romina asked what time we wanted to get off the ship and we said we’d like to take advantage of as much time on the island as possible. She arranged for a small tram to take us right off the ship to the Beach Club. We skipped breakfast today as we knew we would eat early. We entered the beach club were we where asked our name and we were escorted to our over the water cabana. When we booked the cruise, we received $300 on board credit. A few weeks later we booked the over the water cabana for the prevailing rate of $1699. About 8 months ago, my wife noticed a huge price dropped and we canceled and rebooked at $899. Minus our credit of $300 made it a no brainer for $100 per person which was less than some folks were paying for Beach Club admission alone. When we got to the cabana (#10), it was another tears of joy moment for my wife, as we finally made it Coco Cay. Our cabana attendants were Loxley and Thaddeus. They explained the amenities to us. Mike immediately took a turn down the slide, while my wife, sister and niece set up shop at the recliners in the sun. My dad and I chose to sit in the shaded area on the couches. We all enjoyed some beverages, and swimming in front of our cabana. It was a beautiful setting. At 10am we had another surprise for the group as Martha had purchased the Hot Air Balloon ride for her, Mike, Sandy and Dian. Dad and I would remain at the cabana. Loxley kept us informed that their ride was delayed due to high winds and would keep us posted. The restaurant did not open until 11am, but we ordered a variety of cold appetizers including hummus, and shrimp cocktails. At 10:30am, Loxley gave us an all clear for the balloon ride and off they went. My dad and I could see them a short time later as they went up. They really liked this surprise. After they came back Loxley and Thaddeus came to request our lunch order. They suggested we get a variety of everything on the menu to share. In addition we could order items from the Snack Shack, so Mozzarella Sticks and a cheeseburger were also ordered. The food was in a word, fantastic! The standouts were the filet, the grilled Bahamian lobster, the garlic prawns and the coconut crusted lobster sandwich. Stuffed from lunch, we all lounged at the cabana. At 1pm Mike and my sister went for a Wave Runner ride around the island while the rest of us continued to chill. Loxley brought a dessert sampler. Here the favorites were the chocolate chip cookies, the brownie and the tropical fruit sorbet. We went swimming one more time and allowed ourselves some time to dry off, while milking our time at the cabana for as long as possible. All aboard was 4:30pm and we left the cabana back to the ship shortly before 4pm. Once onboard, we all took leisurely showers. We had asked Romina to book dinner later today and we had a 6:30pm reservation in Chops. Yes…more beef for this family. Before we left the suite, we left some personalized thank you cards with extra tips for Derry and Putu. Romina joined in the restaurant briefly to verify our plans for disembarking. While there we presented her with a gift. The ladies noticed Romina always had a clutch purse and they always were very stylish. When we embarked my wife was having a conversation and Martha said she like purses. On one of their shopping trips, the ladies found a stylish Coach clutch purse that matched the Royal Genie colors perfectly. Martha presented her the purse with our personalized thank you and gratuity. In addition to ensuring my wife and dad had assistance getting on and off the ship in port, Romina was aware that Martha and I had celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary the week before this cruise. One night after the casino, we came back to find our bedroom in the loft covered with balloons, a Happy Anniversary sign and a few gifts for us from Romina. After dinner at 150 Central Park, Romina brought a huge cake for our anniversary too. We enjoyed having Romina as our Genie as she genuinely cared for our needs. We are pretty low maintenance and she kept asking is she could do more, but with this room and the amenities, she provided us with all that we needed and then some. We spent one last night in the casino, as “regulars” we were wished well by the dealers, pit crew and servers. This was not a late night as we were disembarking early. Next...Day 8 Disembarkation