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Here we are again it’s time for another cruise. This time we are celebrating our 35th anniversary. We originally booked these dates as a b2b. But things changed when the cruise line decided to cancel those dates and change it to a a transatlantic. I was so upset first because it was our favorite ship and it was going to be our anniversary cruise. So after many sleepless nights the transatlantic dates and cabins showed up so we snagged our new cabin choice. We changed the cabins we had on the b2b to just one cabin for the 14 days. Who will be going this time : Me, hubby, sister and sisters fiancé Saturday we made it to Miami with no flight delays. We are staying at Intercontinental Miami.

️A “Starry” Christmas - Harmony Dec 24-31, 2023️ @Jax is back with a “Starry” Christmas ️ For those that have followed my blogs you know we have a habit of spending Christmas on the Seas. This year we will be back on Harmony doing our first ever Western Caribbean cruise. We spent last Christmas on HM and although my preference would have been to try another ship, the fact it was sailing out of Galveston was too good to pass up. Direct flights from Calgary are plentiful and considerably shorter than going to Florida so this was an added perk. Our son graduates from high school this year so future vacations/cruising are up in the air until we sort out his apprenticeship schedule at trade school and work schedule. So there is a very real possibility we will be on a land vacation next Christmas because I have no cruises booked beyond summer 2024. We have a lot planned so let’s get started…..

The Starmony “Christmas Vacation” blog is officially underway! We are counting down the days until this Christmas vacation gets underway. We are T - 11 days and the excitement is real! If you followed along last year, you know we like to have fun with a Christmas theme. This year it’s National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, a family favourite Christmas movie. We have a few fun things planned so follow along. Who’s going? Myself (Jacquie), 17 year old son (Reyd) and hubby (Lindsay) For those that followed along last year, our good friends Robert and Tammy are back again this year. Robert is a hoot so we are in for a fun week. Our group has expanded to include another set of good friends along with their 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. These friends are travelling with a respite worker for their daughter and will be accessing many of the Autism Friendly Ship programming and supports.

Is there a pre-cruise Genie phone number or Genie email that Star class guests can contact prior to cruising? My husband and I have decided to splurge and get a star class room, one of the benefits we really liked was specialty restaurants are included free of charge. The crazy part is no one in the call centre knows how I can book a restaurant before we depart. I can't book them the way every other passenger does (web or app) as there's no way to override the charge and even if I pay (and yes I did do that) and ask for a refund through their call centre they can't refund the money without cancelling the reservation. I understand that I can book when I'm on the cruise, the catch is all of the restaurants I want and the times I want are booking out quickly. I love that Royal offer Star class but none of their systems or staff are set up to service it. So in fact you get less pre-cruise options then a regular cabin guest does.

Hello everyone! I have been reading all the blogs on here for a while so I figured it was my turn to give one back for everyone to read! We were originally booked on Harmony in the Villa Suite, but the ship was changed to Wonder (which IS exciting). Only problem was that there is no Villa Suite on Wonder so we were moved into the Ultimate Family Suite. I am SUPER excited as this will be our first time in Star Class, but there is a lot of uncertainty for me around this suite. The layout of it onboard wonder is unknown (to me at least) and since we were expecting to have 4 bedrooms and bathrooms, we will need to do a little bit of rearranging where people will sleep. I am looking forward to everyone following along and excited of course for another cruise!

My family are in a Grand Loft Suite on Ovation of the Seas leaving from Sydney on December 23. We have not yet received any contact from our Royal Genie. Normally we have been contacted more than a month out and the website still indicates that this is the policy. Has anyone else had this happen to them?

We are off on Anthem in a Grand Loft in a few weeks and just received our Genie email (we never received the questionnaire). This is our first Cruise, so lots to learn. I wondered if anyone had experience working with Monica Sosa as their Genie? Her email seemed very organised, but would love to know if there are tips people had on her, including things she likes we could bring as gifts? We are also big wine drinkers, so hoping to get a "few" glasses of wine delivered to the room each evening. Is it frowned upon to tip a portion up front on the cruise to see if that may grease the skids on this kind of ask?

Greetings fellow travelers! First time at blogging, first time on Ovation, first time in a Grand Loft, first time in a "star class", and I've never had a genie before, so this cruise brings lots of new and exciting adventures for me and my family! Our cruise is 9 nights, March 21-31, 2019, starting and ending in Sydney; 5 days at sea, 3 ports of call (Mystery Island, Vila, and Noumea). We are a family of four.....two exhausted middle age parents (pumpkin is 55, I'm 50) who apparently, at the age of 39, thought it would be a brilliant idea to start a family....so our twins are now 10. As a family we've done 3 previous cruises, all on RCI; we've enjoyed staying in the family suite, the owner's suite, and the grand suite. This spring break, we decided to drop the bomb on this cruise and stay in a Grand Loft Suite. We booked the cruise a few days ago. I am starting this blog early enough that I can share the details of when this "genie" reaches out to us, and how having this perk touches the pre-cruise stage. And then, of course, there will be the blow-by-blow stuff once we actually get to Sydney. I tried to do my due diligence before booking this suite, by reading all I could about Star Class, but I found there was a paucity of actual reviews and so by writing this blog, I hope to give fellow cruisers another source of information on the benefits of both the Suite, and the whole Star Class, genie thing. So I'll update this blog as things start to happen. Cheers!! Kim

April 10 -17 2022 Who is on this trip: 7 of us ! It will be my hubby and I and the crew of 5. It was suppose to be 8 but my sister went with us in February because she couldn’t make this one. Itinerary:stops will be St Maarten , St Thomas and perfect day. When we booked it was suppose to be Antigua but it was later changed to St Maarten. We had our covid test today (Friday). Now we are waiting for all results so far 5/7 are back and negative. Travel We are driving to Port Canaveral. Plans for tomorrow night staying 6 miles from port. We will leave early Saturday morning from Birmingham Al. We have plans to stop in Port Orange to eat at Aunt Catfish’s. Our genie for this trip is Alexa. We have received our schedule of shows and restaurants. I’m sooo excited for Grease. It just has to be so much better than Cats.

The time is finally approaching very quickly and I have officially decided to blog my vacation experience with the www (aka Royal Caribbean Blog)! I am Kayla (25f), a new mommy and newer wife to my wonderful husband Jake (26m). We will be cruising with our little girl, McKenzie (8 months), my mother, Kelly, father, Big Wayne., brother, Little Wayne, and brothers friend (ex boyfriend but friend still? I have no idea!), DJ. We will ALL be cruising on the March 19th sailing on symphony of the Seas in the 2 Bedroom Aqua Theater Suite! We are BEYOND EXCITED. I have so much excitement that I decided to live blog throughout our trip in order for me to calmly express my excitement for everything. I plan for this blog to mostly be about our experience with sailing Star Class mixed with sailing on Symphony mixed with sailing as first time parents. As you can read this trip is about all firsts! Feel free to join along with me!

I cannot wait any longer! I am so STARry eyed , that my eyes burn with glee! We are a little over two months away from our first Star Class cruise experience on board the Anthem of the Seas. My husband Rob and I are in the midst of making arrangements for our upcoming dream vacation while simultaneously selling our house and buying a new house around the block lol. Yes we are crazy, but who isn't LOL? I am driving Rob bananas (I always have to sing that Gwen Stefani song in my head when spelling B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) asking him if we received the Star Class questionnaire yet. Rob is the responsible one who checks emails every hour so I am at his Mercy LOL. In the meantime, here is the lowdown of our anniversary cruise thus far: ***P.S. SHOUT OUT to @WAAAYTOOO @Jax @Lovetocruise2002 @CravingaCruise and many others for your guidance and blogs that kept me up till 2 AM too many nights LOL Who: Andrew & Rob What: Anthem of the Seas Star Class Cruise 10 year Wedding Anniversary Celebration! Staying in GLS #10324 When: February 11th, 2022 Where: Who cares? We are going on a cruise lol San Juan, St. Maarten, Labadee (probably will change) & 5 cruising days (We love sea days)!!! I have already made a document of preferences that I have finessed like thirty times so we (me) do not sound completely insane! I have heard good things about both Yen and Jay so we are going to try to request either of them to be our magic Genie! I am looking forward to posting again soon once our questionnaire comes!

Inspired by you all writing these fantastic live blogs, and desperately craving another cruise during the pandemic, we booked a Star Class cruise because it was on our bucket list. A week after booking the first one, I couldn't help myself and talked hubby into booking a second one in 2022. I've yet been unsuccessful in booking a third, but it's not been due to lack of effort on my part. We already have another cruise scheduled in 2022 (non-SC), so that brings us to three in the next year. I'm waiting for the right moment to book the next one. Shhhh...don't tell hubby! This will be our 8th cruise, and our first since the comeback. I've been experiencing some major FOMO since cruises started in July and I've driven my family crazy with my obsession over it. I've been ready for this cruise since we booked it back in January, and now that we're less than a month out I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself! I'm a planner through and through (and a lover of Excel), so I've been building our packing list, our shopping list (much to hubby's dismay), our activities wish list (much to our genie's dismay), and our dining / food / snack wish list. Going on this trip: This was going to be a cruise just for Tim and I, but our youngest daughter Kenzie just moved back home with us and her fiancé Jeremy is about to join us, so we decided to make it a family trip. One of the deciding factors is that the last day of the cruise will be Kenzie and Jeremy's dating anniversary. Jeremy has been in Malaysia during the pandemic and they just finally opened their borders for travel; he arrives on Wednesday and Kenzie is beside herself! It's been too long! Ship: Anthem of the Seas Cabin: Grand Loft Suite 10724 Royal Genie: Yen Lee Sail Dates: November 14 - 21, 2021 Itinerary: We sail RT from Bayonne, NJ with stops in Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Perfect Day at CocoCay Tim and I don't even plan to get off the ship in Orlando (used to live there) or Nassau (been there many times). The kids might, but we're hanging back and planning to chill. The only port we're really after is CocoCay. If Royal had an itinerary with just sea days and multiple stops at CocoCay, I think I'd book it. We've already booked the Beach Club at Coco Cay. We had originally booked a Cabana at the Beach Club, but then decided it's more about the pool and restaurant for us and we probably wouldn't be in it much, so we cancelled it. We got our welcome letter from Yen the other day and I've already started communicating with her. I sent her our dining preferences and activities wish list and other than a few specific requests, we're leaving the scheduling up to her. We're pretty chill these days, so we're planning on lots of R&R and preparing for the SC food coma. More to come as we prepare for our first Star Class cruise. I'm excited to share our journey with all of you! I hope I can entertain you all as much as you all have entertained me!

601 days! That's how long it will have been since we last set foot on a cruise ship. It has been WAY TOO LONG! I can finally say it's cruise month! The cast for this adventure includes myself (Amy), husband (Dan), son (Robert), daughter (Laura), son-in-law (Austin), grandbabies (Kylie-2 and Brantley-1). We will be in 2 BR ATS #9334. We love to have fun in the sun and can't wait to take the babies on their first cruise I've never done a blog so I'm calling this a live-ish blog as I'm not sure how much time I will have on the cruise to post. I typically come home from vacations needing a vacation to rest from all the running! We found out who our genie is yesterday. Luciano will be doing our preplanning and we will have Reyno on board! I'm super excited! I've met Reyno, but have never had him as a genie. Has anyone had a situation like this? It will be interesting to see how the preplanning and hand off are done. It will be an interesting adventure to get through all of the testing before the cruise. Kylie is too young to be tested at any place other than her primary clinic. Luckily we are at the Mayo Clinic and results are back in less than a day typically. Interestingly, Brantley had Covid when he was 4 months old. He had a fever and slight lung congestion. It didn't seem to slow him down for very long. I was part of a study that tested for antibodies, I tested negative in October, but positive in November. I evidently was one of the asymptomatic cases. We went to Hawaii a month after he tested positive. That was incredibly stressful testing and waiting for our negative results! I'm hoping since we are all vaccinated that it will be less mentally stressful this time! I have not seen any reviews of people sailing with an under two year old. I'm hoping to give insight as to what it's like with two young unvaccinated children, one requiring a mask and one not. We are planning on playing with the kids in the mornings and then using Royal Babies/Tots in the afternoon and for some evening shows if we are able to book the hours. Our stops are at St. Maarten, St. Thomas and CocoCay. Since we have unvaccinated children we have to be on a ship excursion to take them ashore. At St. Maarten we are doing the Great Bay Beach Experience and hope to eat at our favorite restaurant, Blue Bitch Bar. If it's possible we'll send mom and dad and the babies back on the boat shuttle and Dan & I will walk back so we can stop and buy cheese at the cheese shop. St. Thomas we'll leave the babies on board and go do a little shopping before Laura and I have a massage At Cococay we have a Floating Cabana at the Coco Beach Club (our splurge for the trip). Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to answer them. Looking forward to sailing away soon!!!

So here goes. I am honestly not a creative writer (although I wish I was) but I posted an after the fact blog for our last cruise in Star class (Grand Loft Suite) on Anthem in March 2020 before the shut down so figured I would try it again. This cruise is a long time in the making. Since we had just discovered Star class, we immediately came home and booked a May 2020 cruise on Oasis in the 2 bedroom Aqua Theater suite. Since Covid was here to stay, that cruise was cancelled. Then we figured, of course by September this will all be over so we Lifted and Shifted to Oasis in the same 2 bedroom Aqua Theater suite...cancelled again. So our amazing travel agent (#TeamMindy) got us Lifted and Shifted to Anthem in the Royal Loft Suite in February 2021...we will surely be cruising by then, right? Nope. So, here we are now. We are sailing in 2 bedroom Aqua Theater Suite in a little over 2 weeks! About us. I am sailing with hubby and we are now bringing my father in-law. It started out with us bringing a friend but my father in-law really needs to get out and enjoy the Star Class life so we are bringing him. We are on Deck 9 (Deck 8 was sold out). We have previously stayed in the 1 bedroom Aqua Theater Suite and cannot wait to be in the 2 bedroom suite with the Star Class perks! On our first Star Class cruise we weren't sure what to expect so our expectations weren't high but after having Yen as our Genie on Anthem in March 2020, she is going to be tough to beat! On that cruise she took care of our 3 Star class suites so we had her all to ourselves. I am sure it is going to be different since our Genie told us he has 5 suites to take care of. About a month out, we received an email from Derick (who told us he is taking care of 5 suites) and then we got the normal genie email. We decided we didn't want to answer all of the crazy questions because we knew the most important ones were #1 what we want stocked in our room for drinks and #2 what we wanted to experience on the ship. I am a SUPER planner and need to know what the plans are before we leave so I have a schedule laid out as to where we want to eat and at what time which I sent to him. He said he wished all of his cruisers were as organized but he probably thinks I am crazy! Since cruising from NJ is just starting up and my father in-law is older, we plan to get room service for lunch and dinner on the first day to feel out the crowds so there is no anxiety for him. This will be his first cruise in 5 years and first Star class experience. I have sent a few emails to Derick and he usually responds within an hour or two which is amazing. We were told that in NJ, he can still meet us in the terminal and bring us on the ship, the rooms will be ready at noon and we can check in 1 hour before or 1 hour after our check-in time online. We chose a 12:30 - 1:00 check in (which was the earliest) so we are going to get there around 11:30. One difference I noticed from our last Star class cruise is we can't get beverages in the suite that are not normally stocked on the ship (we asked for diet iced tea and diet ginger ale and we were told we couldn't get those so we will bring some). In addition, the Genie and the room stewards are not allowed in our room while we are in there. They can clean our room if we are in our deck and we can call the genie or meet them on the ship with masks but not in our room. For us, we aren't high maintenance so that isn't a big deal for us. On embarkation day, Derick is going to have some fresh fruit waiting for us and we are ordering lunch for our room which we can do from one restaurant that is open. We are thinking Chops. He did let us know that bridge tours, Central Park tours, etc., are all cancelled until further notice. I am fine with that but was looking forward to having my father in-law do the bridge tour he used to own a big boat and would have really appreciated it. In the grand scheme of things, just get me on a SHIP, RIGHT NOW! I will try to update everyone as we plan more and talk to Derick. We cannot wait. We would love it if people who have been on Oasis since the revamp have some information on best bars or things to check out! One specific question I have is, does anyone know how to book the special area in Playmakers during football? I thought it may be fun to try and if so, how much is it? LET'S GET CRUISING!

Good Afternoon Everyone! I have been spending all day looking into all things cruising! Like many of you, I cannot wait to get on board. Had a question for Star Cruisers...When initially emailing your Royal Genie, besides the questionnaire, what other information have you given to your Genie? If needed will the Genie correspond frequently with you before the cruise? Is it crazy of me to have a document prepared with all of our preferences and general information about my husband and I sent upon initial contact? We have some "wish requests" that may not be able to be granted but I want to try because it seems like the Genies do have magical powers lol. I have seen a couple of examples of request/preference sheets but if anyone has more insight on this, I would appreciate it! I do know from my readings that I need to request to be reserved at CK for filet night LOL. Anything else that I should definitely request? I do not want to be imposing from the start, but we do want to form a connection with our Genie and make sure we get the most out of our experience. Thanks! Andrew

I have been reading all of the live blogs others are doing of their Star Class cruise and thought about attempting one, however, I didn’t want to be constantly on my phone blogging about the day’s events or answering questions so mine is going to be an “after the fact” blog! I am certainly not witty and it likely won’t be as funny or entertaining as others but hope to provide some information for anyone else looking for it. I will space the posts out so if people have specific questions I can answer them along the way. I am also currently going through all of my photos so future posts will hopefully have less content and more pictures! Booking We booked this cruise over a year ago. We always try to book early to secure a location we wanted and my SIL asked if we wanted to try Star class this trip since we are celebrating big anniversaries. The prices of the rooms weren’t that bad on Anthem compared to some of the other ships sailing in March. We booked and then sometime over the summer, my BIL’s parents and nieces decided to join us and they snagged the last Star Class suite on Deck 10. My Husband, his cousin and myself stayed in GLS 10324, my SIL, BIL and niece were in GLS 10724 and my BIL’s parents and their 2 grand kids were in GLS 10720. Prior to the Cruise About a month out we received the generic questionnaire about any special requests, who we would be cruising with and some other random questions. We were sailing with 10 of us in total in 3 Grand Loft Suites on Deck 10 and requested that we have the same Genie. We also requested what we wanted stocked in our room for drinks and snacks. A little over two weeks before the cruise, our Genie, Yen Lee reached out to us introducing herself. From what I have read about Yen, she will make anything we want happen but we shouldn’t expect any real surprises. That was completely fine with me because I am not one who likes surprises….I used to open my Christmas presents before Christmas and re-wrap them all again! We provided her a spreadsheet of where we wanted reservations for dinner for 4 of the nights and a list of what other things we wanted to do (iFly, Flow Rider, Cupcake Decorating, Rock Climbing, Galley/Bridge/Theater tours, North Star, etc.). We also asked that the two cabanas we had booked at Chill Island on Cococay be next to one another in the front row (specifically Cabana #4 and #5). After some back and forth emails between Yen, my SIL and myself, we got a final schedule around 5 days out with everything we wanted scheduled. She indicated she appreciated the spreadsheet as it made it easier for her to make our final schedule for the week. This is what she sent to us: One thing we had really wanted was to have a lunch set up in one of the suites on embarkation day to avoid all of the crowds. We know we could have eaten at Coastal Kitchen or any of the specialty restaurants but wanted something in our room. Within 24 hours Yen replied with menus we could order off of (Jaime’s and Chops) along with letting us know we could also order pizza. I have heard a lot of people were told they couldn’t set up lunch in the room on embarkation day but because we were her only suites, I think it made it easier for her to accommodate us.

“Follow that STAR…Our Journey back to Oasis.” - March 15-22, 2020 Oasis… ” A fertile or green spot in the desert, a shelter from the storm, a moment of respite from the conditions of the desert…” We’re back with another blog and that line above pretty much sums up what this cruise means to us this time around. Our lives, since entering dry dock back in August 2019, has been work, work, and more work. To say that the last seven months have been busy is an understatement. However, all is going to be well soon as we are about to embark on not just another cruise, but another Star Class adventure! And full disclaimer! In fear of being blog shamed (I won't mention any names here lol), I debated waiting on this one until about a week out but then I would have to back track to outline the Star Class process. This is just easier. Oh, and I am excited too! Please note that this is only 5 weeks early. ? Let's begin...

So here goes. I am a planner by nature and not being able to plan everything myself is driving me crazy! I am going to trust the process and "attempt" to go with the flow but am hoping to get some more information. We cruise in a little over a month and I have read tons of blogs and searched the internet but I still have a few questions/clarifications: 1. If I send a schedule of dinner each night, along with other things we want to do/already have reserved, will the genie follow that or will they move things around? My concern is that the times we want to dine there won't be tables available for our group (10 people in 3 Star Class Suites) since we didn't book in advance and therefore, we won't get to eat where I want on the day I want. 2. I have heard Anthem tends to not allow lunch to be served in the suite on embarkation day. We can live with that but will they do snacks/appetizers for sail away at 3 PM that day? I have heard people say that if the restaurant isn't open that you want the food from then you can't. We were thinking of getting some sushi, tempura and spring rolls from Izumi. Alternatively, Brass and Bock is open so we could get appetizers delivered from there. 3. I know the Genie doesn't stock the room with wine but could they deliver a few glasses of wine or leave some gin in a glass to make gin and tonics? 4. With our total of 10 of us in 3 star class suites, we have asked for one genie thinking it would be less work for that genie since we will be doing mostly everything together. Does that make sense to others or would having (potentially) different genies be better? 5. Besides the few snacks we asked to be stocked in our room, I do want some snacks delivered to the room (sometimes) but I don't want wasted food. I was thinking of putting on my schedule I will be sending to the genie what days we wanted snacks delivered. Is that what others do? 6. Tipping at specialty restaurants. I know we aren't paying for any of the specialty restaurants but I usually tip $15-$20 for the two of us when we have gone to them on past cruises. There will be 10 of us at most meals so what is reasonable? Follow the same guideline we typically do? What about at breakfast or lunch at CK? Does anyone have any guidelines that are reasonable? Not trying to be cheap but we splurged for our 20th anniversary on this cruise and I want an idea of how much extra cash I need. 7. When we do in-suite dining (we want to order chops one night), do we just get in contact with our genie and tell them what we want and what time? Is that the same for ordering breakfast in the room too? 8. I know everyone tips their Genie differently and I have googled, Facebook stalked and searched and I still have no idea! It seems some people do $100 pp/day (which would be $2100 which is 40% of what we paid for our room so that is not happening)! I only foresee our Genie scheduling dinners for us and handling in-suite dining if we want. We already booked all excursions and shows. I was hoping $700 for the week was reasonable (the other two rooms would likely tip them the same so $2100 from the 3 rooms in total - I know I would be happy if I made $2100 in cash for a week!!). 9. I know we have to go to the Star Class Zone 6 drop off area. I was a little confused as to what to do when we get there. I know I don't give the bags to the pier porters so is there someone at the star class banner that will tell me who to give them to or should I go inside with them? Thank you in advance for any other tips or tricks to make this the most amazing trip ever!!! I know there are some experienced Star Class cruisers here so I look forward to hearing from the experts!

Our first SC experience was in 2017 on the Oasis. I'm working up a small blog about our experience, so more to come on that. Our genie 'Allen' was amazing! Now, in 2019 we are going for our second SC experience on Anthem. This question comes more as to what we can bring as a thank-you gift. We did leave a really nice tip, but want to take it a bit further and bring something unique or cool. I feel bad that we didn't really have anything to give Allen in 2017, especially since on the last day he had gotten all of us a little nice gift. For me, a really nice new wallet - which I'm still using today. What, if anything, have other cruisers in the SC brought as a thank-you gift for their genies? What about thoughts on a price range of the gift?

For those of you who have had the pleasure of experiencing the Royal Genie service, what kind of requests did you make from your Genie. What kind of requests (if any) did you have to pay extra for on top of your cruise fare? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect from a Genie and what experiences (if any) I would have to expect to receive from them for an extra cost. I don't mind paying for things, I'm just curious what I would be paying a "price" versus a "gratuity" for.

Is $8,000 for a Star Class Aqua Theater for 2 people on Allure of the Seas in Jan 2019 a good price for that room category?

I was told by Royal Caribbean customer service that Aquatheater 2 bedroom suite is not Royal Class and does not have Genie Service. I was told that only Aquatheater balcony is Royal Class. The Aquatheater 2 bedroom suite is Sky Class. I thought both Aquatheater rooms were Royal Class with the new amenities as of May 1, 2016. Can anyone comment?