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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!

The Festivus Star Class Miracle Blog is officially underway!! We are counting down the days until our 2nd star class cruise; this one on Oasis. I have been reluctant to start this blog for fear of something messing it up but I am trying to push that fear aside and enjoy this experience. Plus if I am going to post in real time about the star class process I really need to get started! So when in doubt I turn to my Magic 8 Ball. I got an “outlook good” “without a doubt” and “yes” so here we are!! Like so many others, getting to this point has been a rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs and it will truly be a Festivus Miracle once we board Oasis! This cruise was originally planned for Easter 2021, then Easter 2022 and due to hubby’s work schedule, we had to do a last minute change to Christmas 2021. Inventory was limited, so it initially meant no star class for us, so we settled on the last available crown loft suite. I had my TA waitlist us for any star class suite that came available on Deck 17. At the 56 day mark our Festivus star class miracle was granted when the Grand Panoramic Suite became available. I grabbed it! I am still doing a happy dance! Our first and only cruise with Royal was over Christmas 2019 on Anthem. It was star class and soon after that cruise we knew that we wanted to try an Oasis class ship; specifically for Deck 17 and the proximity to the Suite lounge and CK. We had a few hiccups on that cruise so we are looking forward to having a much better onboard experience this time! I now have the benefit of a TA, all of your expertise and the wisdom gained from this amazing community over the past 2 years so I think we should be in good hands! I owe a huge thank you to @Lovetocruise2002 @Mindybrite @WAAAYTOOO along with others who have generously shared their knowledge, expertise and advice. I share @Lovetocruise2002love of suites and star class and consider myself a “west coast Canadian suite snob”. LOL Thank you doesn’t seem like enough but I hope to pay it forward through this blog. Now let’s get started!

Some things we want to share from our last two cruises (Ovation 9/3/21 & Oasis 10/3/21): 1. C&A Diamond awards 4 drinks daily; they can be redeemed at any bar on the ship, as they do not want you to congregate at the Diamond lounge from 5-8 pm (post-COVID precaution). That being said, there was no reason for us to go to the Diamond Lounge other than the espresso machine; they never seemed to have any snacks like they used to ...beyond a few cookies, nor were there other members with whom to visit. 2. We were Star class on Oasis last week which included the drink package. Two drawbacks here: a. We were in the casino getting some nice wine when the bartender commented that it was better that he used our Prime casino status rather than charge us the extra amount over the $13 beverage package limit (Star Class w/ free bev pack). b. We ate at the Chef's Table (traditionally anywhere from $55-$95 pp, depending on the ship, for BOTH the meal & the wine pairings). The Chef's Table was stated as free with Star Class, HOWEVER, this turned out to be just for the food....they charged us $88 extra for the drink, as they said the wine pairing was not included in OUR Chef's Table, and the beverage package only allowed up to the $13 per glass of wine & desert martini...interesting. Now we just stop at the casino on the way to dinner to avoid the ">$13" fee for anything suspected as pricey or considered special and order standard drinks anywhere else on the ship under the Diamond drinks option. This seems to take care of our needs on the cruises from now on!

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!!!

Hello everyone, this is my first time doing this so bare with me. Lets just start from the beginning. In June of 2017 my family was about to embark on their first Oasis class cruise. They took the gamble and booked a Junior Suite Guarantee for the three of them, about a month prior to the sailing we logged on and saw they had been assigned a Grand Suite. Myself who was then in the process of leaving my first job so I could move on to my current career decided to leave a week earlier then planned to go experience the suite life I had read much about on here. Well lets just say this was the beginning to our obsession with wanting to take a Star Class cruise. About a year later my mom and dad took a cruise on Allure for their anniversary in a Crown Loft and this just furthered our want to experience Star Class. So one night while facetiming with my parents while they were at sea I was able to convince them to visit the next cruise desk and book one. Well three days later it was official, we were booked in a 2 Bedroom AquaTheater Suite on Allure in 2019. Fast-forward a few months and we were calling to add on 4 other family members to this cruise and we were being told it would be almost $12,000 to add these 4 people. We decided not to add them and to wait and figure something out. About a week later the sailings for the Summer of 2020 were released, we immediately called and snagged us a 4 Bedroom Villa on Harmony in June of 2020 for an amazing price. So that was it, now we just wait, so we thought. Insert COVID-19 We sat and watched the dates of the cruise suspension keep getting pushed, we finally broke down and called Royal just to see what our options were for changing this sailing. We were not planning to actually do anything on the phone that day and had no dates in mind, we just wanted to know what could be done. Well lets just say we got lucky, while on the phone the agent was able to find another Villa suite for $5,000 cheaper than we were already paying. We rebooked for January 2021, yeah Covid won't be a problem still. Well as we all know what happened, we called again about a week prior to Royal announcing more cancelations and this time found a Villa on Symphony in September 2022. So we though for sure this was the one and it would have been until August 2021 came around. My mom who was a 4th grade teacher had just started her school year when about 2 weeks in she had to leave school early and go to the hospital. Unfortunately about 2 weeks later she very unexpectedly passed away (non-covid related). So here we are now, trying to decide what to do with her ashes. We decided we would take her on a final cruise and spread her ashes in the Caribbean. This in itself is a massive feat, my father is an airline pilot, my sister a middle school teacher, brother an EMT taking Paramedic classes, and myself also in the aviation industry. The time we had to do this was very simple as my brother and sister are on similar schedules: Thanksgiving or Christmas. My dad was able to get Christmas off as he just so happened to not be on call that week. Myself being the lowest in seniority where I work, there was absolutely zero chance but somehow I sweet talked my way into getting the time off. So we got booked for Oasis over Christmas week in 2 Grand Suites, back where it all started. (I will also blog this one) So after getting the Christmas cruise booked and cancelling the three other cruises I already had booked for me and my mom, I came back across this sailing. I had originally booked this cruise in the Ultimate Panoramic Suite for my 25th birthday and my mom would have been coming with me. I decided I needed to go on a cruise to just get some time away from everything and get back into what I always enjoyed. The only problem now was I had nobody to go with me, my mom was always my cruising partner. So we now owed my grandparents a cruise since they had helped pay for the Villa Suite one which was now not going to happen. So I called to talk to them and started talking about this cruise and how I needed someone to go with me, before I could ask she said they would. We started talking about rooms and all they wanted was an aft facing balcony, I said sure. Well two hours later and we are booked in a 2 Bedroom AquaTheater Suite, 8330. In 33 days I will finally be able to experience Star Class, I just wish the person who wanted this all along was able to go. So here's where I need help, I only have 4 days on Oasis and want to get as much from the experience as possible. Any suggestions on requests from my Genie? Currently the only thing I know for sure I will request is sail away snacks and drinks from the balcony and I have my dinner schedule already figured out. I look forward to bringing everyone along on this journey and any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I am both excited and terrified to begin my first live Blog here of my first ever Star Class sailing and also….our wedding! I can only hope it is HALF as good as the amazing bloggers I read religiously here! 48 DAYS! Here we go! The Story- My husband and I (I will explain!) booked this cruise for our wedding 2 YEARS ago during a Black Friday sale at an amazing price! We both LOVE cruising…so much so that we have a YouTube channel called BoosCruize so it seemed natural that we would choose to tie the knot in a small ceremony on the high seas! So after much research we decided on the Star Loft Suite 1720 on Oasis Of The Seas! This suite had a HUGE rectangular balcony that could fit guests and also give us the ocean view we wanted….and a Genie to help us pull it all off! What could go wrong?!? Enter…COVID As you can imagine we basically needed a new pair of britches every other day for the last two years as things changed. It’s a good thing I buzz cut my head or I’d probably be bald and NOT by choice LOL A year later we weren’t even sure if this cruise would happen but we also KNEW we wanted to be married. So when a company came to us and asked to throw us a huge West Coast “David Tutera” style wedding in Hollywood that will be published for magazines we obviously said YES! We now have two bi-coastal weddings Lol It was amazingly gorgeous but nothing was our choice. It was all chosen for us….right down to our tuxes. We feel BEYOND blessed but it also wasn’t what we had in our head two years ago. So now here we are….our guest list of 50 has gone down to 12 due to covid complications. Are we upset? HECK NO! We completely understand and are going to have the time of our LIVES on a gorgeous ship surrounded by people who love us! We can’t wait! Who: We are an LA couple. Jarell is an international Flight attendant (yaasss benefits!) and I am an actor who just moved from NYC in time for a pandemic to close Hollywood Where: We are sailing on the Oasis Of The Seas out of Miami in the Star Loft Suite 1720 with stops at Coco Cay, St.Thomas, and St. Maarten When: We sail November 7th-14th, 2021 I think that covers most of the back story and introductions! So happy to meet you all and take you along with us on this very special journey that is over 2 years in the making! Can’t wait to see who our Genie will be! For good measure I have included a photo of the happy grooms from our West Coast Wedding!

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

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!

Hi! Haven’t been on in a while but happy to be back!!! We are doing a star class cruise in February and are interested in booking a private journey excursion. Any insight or experiences with private journeys? Looking to do something in Puerto Rico. Andrew

11 cruises canceled, 4 devastated kids, 2 very sad adults, way too much future cruise credit.... 8 cruises scheduled, 4 excited kids, 2 very happy, yet leery adults, only 34 days to go until Star Class on Symphony!!!! Wow! Cruising is back!!! I am so excited that we can finally say that. I was one of those people saying "surely, cruising will have started back by ...," but as one cruise after the next was canceled, I started to wonder if we would ever return to sea. I went from reading daily live blogs and watching youtube cruise vlogs all the time to rarely doing it. My closet of vacation attire went from a "cruise closet" to a "Club Med closet." Then, I saw that a ship was set to sail and then another, and the next thing you know I began to think, "Wow, this might actually happen!" Initially, I was worried about what it would be like sailing since my kids are too young to be vaccinated (even though my husband and I are fully vaccinated). I worried about us being treated like second class citizens, and most of all I worried about how this would make the kids feel. Some of you, can even attest to my facebook post where I voiced my concerns about this. After, contemplating this for awhile, my husband and I decided to talk to our two older kids about this, and they still wanted to go. At that point, we said "This is OUR cruise, and we are going to go and enjoy ourselves and not let anyone ruin that for us! As this initial fear subsided, the excitement finally began to fully kick in. Cruise Vlogs and Blogs are back on the menu, and we even bought a new cruise wardrobe for the kids, but before I get too much further into this blog, I should probably stop and introduce my family and tell you a little about us and our booking. Family: Tiffany, Steven (he will be co-blogging with me), Christian/CJ (11 year old boy), Sophia (9 year old girl), Nyssa/Prissy (3 year old girl), and Katarina/Kat/Kitty (2 year old girl) Ship: Symphony of the Seas Sail Date: September 11, 2021-September 18, 2021 Cabin Type: 2 Bedroom Aquatheater Suite Itinerary: Miami, Florida; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, ST. Thomas; Perfect Day at CocoCay; Miami, Florida I look forward to catching up with those who have followed my other blogs and also getting to know some new faces. We have cruised star class before, so I will try to cover any changes since cruising has returned. I will also let you know what it is like sailing with kids too young to be vaccinated.

Hi Everyone! This is my first time doing anything like this, so I apologize in advance if it stinks We - me, DH, and our 2 sons (J 15 and M 13) - were originally planning on going to Disney the last week in August. But with the spiraling case counts we have been getting nervous. After much debate, we decided last night that we would cancel Disney (for the 3rd time due to COVID) and I started playing around on Royal’s website. I found a 2 bedroom aquatheater suite for a good price and called to book it immediately. The boys got over the Disney disappointment pretty fast when we told them about the cruise. Joining us on this cruise will be my mom, Mary. We’ll be leaving our house in New Hampshire on Saturday the 25th and spending the night at her house in Connecticut. Google maps says it’s only about a 2 - 2.5 hour drive from there, so I think we’ll be fine driving down Sunday morning. 5 people and luggage in my Traverse may be a little squishy. This is our first cruise on RC. We’ve cruised on Disney several times, but the last 2 trips have been “disappointing”. We’re all looking forward to trying something new. So far we’ve booked tickets to Thrill water park and a chill island beach bed. I’d love to book a cabana as DH and mom aren’t water park people, but thrill water park, cocoa beach club, and chill island are already sold out. The floating cabanas are $1700! and Oasis Lagoon seems like a crowded location. Breezy Bay and South Beach aren’t listed. I look forward to bringing you all along and appreciate any advice you have.

I saw some comments in another thread that leads me to believe that some may have experienced some Star Class hostility when they were taking advantage of some Star perks such as jumping to the front of the line for certain events or getting seated in the front row for shows etc. Just wondering if anyone had actually experienced some comments from other passengers on board.

Trying out Star class for the first time and have no idea what to ask the Genie to do for us. I've read several of @Mattblog's on the subject. I'd like some ideas and what you would ask your Genie to do for you. I've read many threads on tipping so I'm good there. One thing I'd like is a plate of Sushi from Izumi's on boarding day hopefully they can arrange that. Does anyone know if they can get flowers for the room? Do I have to pay for them?

Gonna try giving this a shot even though I've never done a live blog before. Please take it easy on me ?

Can I just clarify as I’m getting a little confused. One benefit of Star class is complimentary gratuities. Is this different from the normal pre paid gratuitues that I would put on any other cabin? Doing a couple of mock bookings for a star class suite and the pre paid gratuities are automatically tagged on. Do you still pay the pre paid gratuities with the star class perk or is it a glitch with the RCL site

Hi everyone and happy holidays! We just signed up for this blog! My name is Drew. My husband Rob and I are big cruising fans and are doing more RCCL cruises as of late. We are big Celebrity fans but it is always fun to try different things! It’s still far out, but we are booked on the Anthem 9 Night February 11th cruise out of Cape Liberty. I am dying to know what blogger’s experiences are with star class. We booked a grand loft. What is the best part of a royal genie? How can that person make an anniversary celebration extra special? Any insider tips with Star Class? Thanks! Drew and Rob

I know its 6 months away but I'm excited to sail with star class. We'll be on the Quantum of the Seas. One thing I'm hoping my assigned genie can do is arrange an in-suite dinner for my wife and I. Embarkation day is her birthday. Any suggestions on what to do? Also, how does the dinning work with star class? Can we basically eat wherever and whenever without incurring extra costs? Same thing for drinks or does the beverage package rules apply? Thanks in advance for sharing!

Not a live blog but posting details of our Anthem of the Seas Star class experience under live blog section of the website. Come check it out if you have any questions about the ship or Star class on Anthem. I will be posting all 7 days of our experience! I figure in these times of no cruises some fun pictures will be an enjoyable distraction!

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.

NOT QUITE YET... ....is this going to be a Live Blog. I am NOT looking to set the new World Land Speed Record for starting the earliest Live Blog. It will turn into a live blog MUCH later when we get closer to sail date. I just wanted to announce to the world that the long anticipated 8 night Symphony itinerary for 21 - 29 August 2021 has finally shown up on the website !!!! I've been stalking this cruise for months. They announced the itinerary - Labadee, Aruba and Curacao - months ago, but never opened it for booking until today. I quickly snagged one of the Deck 8 Aqua Theater Suites because I could not afford (or didn't want) any of the other Star Class rooms that were left. Believe it or not, some of the SC rooms were already gone by the time I got there !! The aft-facing Star Loft was there but I don't really want that one. I have NO interest in that awful Ultimate Family thing and the Royal Loft is WAAAY out of my price range on this cruise (and so was the Ultimate Family thing, to be fair). So let the fun begin. I BELIEVE that this will be the first Oasis class ship to go to Aruba and Curacao. I could be wrong about that. For sure it will be the first time Symphony has been there. This will also be my first cruise on Symphony and I'm very excited. 3 ports in 8 days is my idea of heaven. Interest, anyone ?

With the obvious lack of Oasis Star Class blogs recently, I thought I'd step up and do one as well. The more the merrier, right? Stealing from @Lovetocruise2002 for formatting: Who’s Going? Me, wife Abby, and 5 y/o Daughter Virginia, along with Abby's mom and dad (the in-laws). It will be the in-laws first cruise in over 20 years, so going on an amplified Oasis will be quite the culture shock for them. Flight Flying from STL to FLL the day before via SWA, then taking an Uber/Lyft to Miami to spend the night. Pre-Cruise Stay Looking at hotel rooms, we were planning on staying at the Intercontinental, but rates were outlandish. $500+ per night per room. I couldn't believe that certain members of the Blog group would stay there at that price, so I was confused. I did some research, and that weekend is the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, so everywhere was booked or crazy expensive. So instead we are booked in a 2 bedroom suite at the Hyatt House near MIA for almost 50% of that rate, and for all 5 of us. Itinerary This 7-night, Western Caribbean sailing, brings us to Falmouth, Cozumel, and Labadee. No plans in Falmouth. Cozumel we have El Cozumeleno booked, and in Labadee with have cabana B2 booked. Cabin 2 Bedroom ATS on deck 9 for us, we will try to keep it nice for you @Lovetocruise2002. The in-laws are booked in a JS down the hall from us. RCCL sent an email about 3 weeks ago saying that they overbooked JS for this sailing and offered to go to a Balcony room for $300 OBC and a full refund of the second passenger in the cabin. We paid for this cruise as a Christmas present for them, so I pushed like hell for them to go to the standard balcony, but unfortunately they had already been on the blog and youtube looking at cabin information and were dead set on the JS... Pre-Cruise thoughts We are beyond excited to see the newly amped Oasis of the Seas. It's the only Oasis Class we've been on, and that was in November 2018. I'm very excited for all of the slides, the escape room, and the prospect of actual brewed iced tea at Portside BBQ. No pre-cruise purchases because it’s Star Class, but I did snag the DX for my in-laws at $18/day. Looking forward to checking out the new Adventure Ocean, even though Virginia will probably be bummed out that @Matt's daughters won't be there too! I think it's interesting that @Lovetocruise2002 and I have a different Genie even though we will be in the same cabin. We have Smitha, whom I've heard great things about, but apparently it would be hard-pressed to go wrong with any of the Genies on Oasis. Smitha has been great so far. We got our initial email from her 1 day after our survey, on 1/7/20, and had a provisional schedule worked out about 3 days later.

“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 star class cruise on Anthem of the Seas is approaching quickly. Today marks 50 days to go. We completed our genie survey this morning. This will be our first time as a family on Royal Caribbean (the husband previously sailed as a child on RCI). We have sailed on DCL concierge twice, both times on the Magic, once in the Walt Suite. The rising prices of DCL concierge had caused me to look into other options, and it seems that the amenities provided to star class cruisers on RCI are far beyond what is offered on DCL… and for a better price! Our suite will include myself, the husband, and our 8 yr old son (who will be celebrating his 9th birthday onboard). My parents will also be joining us on the cruise, but will be in a separate cabin. Cruise Itinerary: 11 night Southern Caribbean (Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, St. Kitts) from Cape Liberty, NJ on 1/27/2020. Stateroom: Owner’s Loft #8720 Shore Excursions: St. Maarten Beach Rendezvous. Catamaran Sail, Snorkel, and Beach Cruise in Antigua. 4x4 Island Safari & Beach in St. Kitts. All were booked online on the cruise planner with Royal Caribbean. Transportation: We are fortunate to live approximately 2 1/2 hours from the port, therefore will be arranging transportation for the entire family through Delaware Express. We have used them many times for airport transportation, and have found them to be very reliable. Bonus: We didn’t realize this when we booked the cruise, but the Super Bowl will be happening while we are onboard. Looking forward to finding out who our genie will be!

I promised Sabrina that I would do this, so here goes. First: I am the worst live blogger EVER since I hate to take pix. I DO realize that long, text review/live blogs are less effective b/c nobody wants to sit and read line after line of text. I hate it myself ! So I am going to TRY and be brief-er than usual and TRY and incorporate photos, which are 2 things I am not very good at (brevity and photography). Who: Dan and I (Raye) What: S2S cruises on Brilliance and Oasis. Where: Tampa then Miami When: 24 - 30 Nov (Brilliance out of Tampa) then 1 - 8 December (Oasis out of Miami) Why: Because we can...and this will be our first S2S At home, writing this but leaving for the airport (DCA) at 2PM. Uber, cost $81.56. We have to have an XL due to luggage. Honestly, it's not that far to the airport. We live about 20 miles south of DC so it's not more than 15-17 miles to the airport. Kinda high, IMO but still cheaper than parking the car in Long Term Parking for 15 days. We will pass some time at the American Airlines Admiral's Club prior to boarding and then fly First Class to Tampa. Flight is at 5:00, arriving TPA at ~7:30PM. Will Uber from airport to the hotel (Tampa Marriott Water Street); used rewards points for the hotel. We could have used airline miles for the air but we're saving those reward points for a yet-to-be scheduled Alaska trip !! One piece of luggage still missing as it is awaiting inevitable forgotten, last-minute items. So looking forward to Brilliance. #1, we have never sailed on Brilliance before and #2, it has been many years since we sailed on a Radiance class ship. PS. I am already having fits with just 1 pic. I don't know how the rest of you do it !! More, later from the Admiral's Club !!