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Bish

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On 2/21/2019 at 12:54 AM, Bish said:

On February 20th, we received our Introductory email from our Genie.  Seems we have hit the jackpot, with Mr. Luciano Santos as our grand Poobah.  I have read wonderful things about this gentleman, and am really looking forward to meeting him!

Yes, this email is where you start getting specific things accomplished that you would like, dinner locations, show's, beverages in the room, snacks in the room etc.. Don't get really specific on the dinner and shows, this is the Genie's sweet spot for planning, they know the times better than you will. Unless you have something specific to celebrate and want to do it at a specific restaurant then tell him. Agree with @Lovetocruise2002 ask him for PDF's of the menu's he should be able to email them to you.

When he is through with your schedule have him email it to you or wait for the first day, and then tweak it then if there is something you don't like. Don't be afraid to ask for any thing, the Genies job is to give you everything you want (With in reason). Also don't forget all of the behind the scene tours.

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Replied to Luciano on February 22, asking for additional info about restaurants and shows.

Here's a mind-bender for you....on the same day, but on Feb. 21st (two days difference in time zones betwn Canada and Australia), Luciano replied back!  Anyways, he provided a list of restaurants on the ship, and indicated he would provide a planner for us, including dinner, activities and shows, which can be tweaked when we arrive.  

I've read that these pre-cruise details can include what you would like on arrival (drinks, food),  what you would like in the mini-fridge, etc, but so far, the emails have been pretty general.  Tiny, did you initiate the requests, or were your requests sought out by the Genie?  I don't want to seem pushy or high maintenance.....

I emailed him tonight, telling him we want to hit all the restaurants, in no particular order, at least once (9 night cruise), and asking if there's a sail-away party on the Heli Pad.  We aren't sure where we want to be yet for sail-away, but are leaning towards sharing the excitement with others vrs being on our own balcony.  

Thanks, Mattymay.  I think you're right....it's the going home that's going to be hellish!  (Oops, did I say that in my loud voice?)

21 more days!!!!

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I provided our Genie with a Word doc of all our requests (what to stock the room with, standing order for breakfast, etc.). Pretty sure @tiny260 did the same. From there we fine tuned the details.

Yes, I did, it was a funny topic with our Genie, I guess Royal doesn't like to use bullet point formatting when dealing with a customer, I used bullet point to stream line my document, so the Genie used bullet points in his return document.

So all week it was "I'll get that bullet point document out to you tomorrow", as a joke between he and I.

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Would you be open to sharing your word document of requests?  I'm just trying to wrap my head around what to request (lots of folks say ask for "anything" but as a newbie, I don't know what that translates to in real life!). Thanks.

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UPDATE:

Luciano and I have been emailing back and forth; I'm gradually adding to my list of wishes, and my list of questions (do they have kids-sized bathrobes?  Do they have bubble bath for my ritual tub soak at the end of a busy day, etc).  I have asked for champagne on arrival, as well as Hefeweisen for pumpkin, and some drinks for the kids.  

I've indicated we are wanting to eat our way around the ship in no particular order, that we want to try all the onboard activities, see all the shows.....Luciano indicated he will develop a planner, and we will tweak it once on board, and we will also book the shows once onboard.  

We are going into this particular cruise very open to just going with the flow.  Bringing our own snorkeling equipment with us, so not booking any tours, we'll just walk or taxi around til we find a spot to swim. Not wanting to be overly structured, or over-planned.  

We received an email from RCI this week telling us our passports require at least 3 months of validity before expiration in order to disembark at New Caledonia.  

We have also received our Australian Visa's (tax grab, if you ask me).  

 

 

 

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Sorry Bill, I don't have that information. I am happy to let you know once we are onboard tho.

UPDATE:

A disappointing turn....when we booked the Grand Loft Suite, we confirmed with our Travel Agent that there was a bath tub in this suite.  She in fact contacted RCI, at least according to her email, and that they had confirmed a tub in one of the bathrooms.  Alas.....no bath tub in the suite.  This is not a deal breaker, of course, but a bit of a bummer......I like a nice hot bubble bath a few nights a week.  First world problems.....

At any rate, tonight we received Luciano's "boarding information".....including where to go once we arrive at the terminal (look for the STAR CLASS flag), what to expect (if Luciano isn't available at the moment we arrive, we should expect to wait for him and not board the ship on our own), and we were given luggage tags to print out and a fix to our bags.  His letter said boarding will commence between 11 and 1130 and that our suite will be available by 1 pm at the latest.  

So much anticipation for this cruise!

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, with just a couple more days til we board that boat, we are packing and preparing for a hellishly long plane ride tomorrow night.  We don't even board the flight in Vancouver until midnight......twin 10 year olds are going to love slumming it around the airport for five hours waiting for that fricking flight to board.  15+ hour flight.....god, I hope Luciano has a biiiiggg gin and tonic waiting for me when I board Ovation......

ive had a few back and forth emails with Luciano regarding small requests......can we get a cot for a child who refuses to sleep with his sibling (yes of course).  Can the cot disappear during the day, cuz I don't want to see it (yes, of course).  Tonight I sent an email asking if a clothes steamer can be borrowed from housekeeping because I'm envisioning our clothing as a rumpled mess by the time we get there.  

We have our "banner" printed out to give to the luggage porter, we ve told Luciano when to expect us......

we haven't had any kind of s schedule or planner presented to us via email, so I'm guessing he will review our "stuff" with us when we arrive.

We are super excited about this cruise, just needing to get this flight over and done with!

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Bish said:

Tonight I sent an email asking if a clothes steamer can be borrowed from housekeeping because I'm envisioning our clothing as a rumpled mess by the time we get there.  

Beauty of Star Class, laundry service.

Just gather everything that needs to be steamed/pressed and turn it in for service. Best bet might be pulling the few things out that would be later in the day and have them immediately sent off. Then ready a second round that could held off until the next day.

Recall on Anthem handing a shirt and slacks over during the initial meeting with the Suite Attendant. Got them back before dinner.

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6 hours ago, Bish said:

can we get a cot for a child who refuses to sleep with his sibling (yes of course).  Can the cot disappear during the day, cuz I don't want to see it (yes, of course).

They hid our cot behind the curtains and it was never in our way during the day.  Just make sure your kids are careful when they plop down on the cot and don't sit on the end of it and wind up on the floor like some people ??

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We have been killing time at YVR for hours......but the good news is we received business class upgrades. So thankful for that.......doesn't shorten the length of the flight but sure makes it more comfortable.  Will board soon, so see you all on the other side.....

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Holy smokes......that is a long flight.  Managed to sleep off and on for eight or so hours, so actually didn't hit the wall til about 9 last night.

we arrived in Sydney at 10 am, and got a cab, which cost $100 Australian dollars. The train would have been the same amount.  Limo is available but it was 150$ or so.  We opted for the cab and it took about 45 min to get to the port.  Traffic was apparently unusually heavy.

pulling into the port drop off area was a circus with lots of cabs ahead of us and we couldn't see the star class flag til we were out of the cab with our bags. A porter tried to take our bags, but we told him we were star class and showed him the banner.....he sent us off towards that big purple flag, and we rolled all our bags in the drizzling rain over there unaided.  

At the flag, the star class benefits immediately became apparent....an agent with a star class sign called Luciano and stayed with us as we checked in with another agent who had an iPad to do that on. From there, the agent with the sign took us through to a customs agent, bypassing a snaking line of about a hundred people. After clearing customs, she took us through security (no dedicated security line for star class in this area and it wasn't very busy; not sure what they would have done for us if the security line ups were long).

Then we were off to the ship, where Luciano met us at the door as we came in, told us our suite wasn't quite ready, so offered lunch at Coastal Kitchen.  After eating, Luciano returned to escort us to our suite (10324), provided us with a brief tour and gave us our "schedule" for the week.  (BUMMER ALERT: KIDS UNDER 11 CANNOT DO THE ESCAPE ROOM). Luciano said he would see what he could do but it didn't sound optimistic.

The suite is gorgeous, silly amounts of appetizers were waiting, at least a dozen beers in ice, a bottle of premium champagne on ice, more pop and juice than we would ever drink.......the balcony is amazing, with plenty of chairs, chair towels, a small dining table and a small side table. 

We unpacked after popping the champagne and beer........two huge wardrobes upstairs, a good size small closet down, with tons of drawers up and down also.

muster drill was painful, with the usual delays bc of people deciding not to show up. After this, we went exploring.....I put my name in for a draw at the spa and won a $50 gift cert! Of course you had to be present to win, and I wasn't there, but hubby was.  They wouldn't give it to him (fair enough) but a swift call to Luciano resulted in a phone call from the spa manager at around 8 pm saying they would honor my win.  That was a nice gesture, and I suspect only happened bc of SC.

sail away was on time. We decided to do the Seafood Tower, and a couple of cocktails......it was fabulous! Then, kids were starting to fade, so we put them to bed at 8 and pumpkin and I headed for CK. Staff there are lovely, but service seems a titch slow.

asleep by 9 in that wonderful bed! Kids ordered breakfast to the room which by my estimation arrived way tooooo early, but whatever.....

the coffeemaker in our room doesn't seem to be working very well, so am presently up in Concierge Lounge drinking.....coffee. Bing is the Concierege for this cruise.

pumpkin is at the pool with the kids (10 year old b/g twins) sipping a Pina colada.  He looked very happy about his drink.  It was 10 am.  Getting the party started, I guess.......

Some photos of check in:

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The loft suite are completely and utterly aft.  The nearest staircase or elevator is about 150 steps away.  Be prepared, if you have this suite, to do a LOT of walking.  Conceirge Club Lounge is 300+ steps and two long corridors away.  Not complaining, lord knows I need the exercise.

the club is large, quiet and also completely aft, hence the beautiful view.

some photos of the long corridors you'll take to get here on deck 12 (or has my husband calls it "dick 12" in his best Aussie accent), some signage at the elevators, including an interactive sign.

apologies for the poor photo quality......my husbands phone takes better photos but I can't download them right now for some reason.  Will sort that out and post those later......

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@Bish they won’t let you do the escape room with young kids. Those who are paying for it probably would not enjoy having younger children in there. That is why we requested the private star class session. See if you can find another SC family who has younger kids as well and request a private session. That should not be a problem. You just need 6 minimum.

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@Bish thanks for sharing, now that I found this we will be following.  We too have not seen much info on the Ovation and will be sailing her out of  Vancouver in about 2 months, our room will be 10720 just down the hall form yours so this is the perfect reconnaissance.  @Lovetocruise2002 Just did a wonderful blog, thank you for that, on Star class but this is more specific to our sailing, especially the fact that my wife is still trying to adjust to the “no bathtub in the suite” thing!  

Enjoy and keep the pic and info coming!

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Your suite is lovely.  I am so relieved.  I was concerned that you would have the tiny room like we had (10720) but yours is great !!  It must just be the corners that are so small.

So am I understanding it correctly....that you flew all the way to Sydney to arrive on cruise day ?  WOW !  That took some guts !  Glad it all worked out.  I would have been a nervous wreck not having at least 1 day to spare.

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17 hours ago, Bish said:

And finally.......That BODY PILLOW we ordered from the pillow menu......

 

the thing is hilariously massive.  Pumpkin and I felt like we had a third person in bed with us....(which might have been fun a couple decades ago haha!)

kidding!

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My daughters loved the body pillows!

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Omg, all we do are stairs and corridors!  The elevators are full full full and slow slow slow! Walking off all these meals......

we did the skydive simulator in the afternoon which Luciano had booked us in for.  It was fun......be prepared with running shoes......they provide the rest of the equipment.  Met a lovely trio of fellow star cruisers who are in the royal loft suite.  They invited us up for a cocktail and we got a tour of that beautiful suite......it's huge! We have invited them to our grand loft suite this afternoon after we all do another skydive.

did bumper cars in the late afternoon.......special line up spot for star class guests and we essentially jumped the queue about five times. My ten year old son did rock climbing after that.

dinner was at Wonderland. It was awful.  Slow service, really imaginative food, which was expected, but the kids didn't like much of it and frankly, neither did I.  Service took so long we politely left before the main courses ever arrived.  Will not be revisiting that place. Kids went to bed and we went to  the show.

Went to a comedy show at 8:15 and the guy was hilarious.  Can't remember his name, sorry!  Then to vintages for a drink,  to the casino for a look-see, then to bed.  

Luciano is only and always just a phone call away.  We were escorted to our seats for the show, to the skydiving simulator.  Laundry is free as is pressing. Tons of water and coke and juices in the room, as well as beer.  Fresh berries arrived in the afternoon.....perfect! If u want spirits, they bring them by the glass.  Very impressed with the service and perks!

Here are a few random shots...menu is from CK breakfast....Baja eggs were awesome!  Some shots of Sydney from the North Star (also a jump the queue situation!), goat cheese salad...seafood tower at sail away on the balcony.....

 

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Luciano got us in for another skydive today, roller skating is reserved for 4:30, we met two other families in star class and are having them for cocktails at 3:30.  I was sorta surprised when I asked Luciano if we could have a bottle of champagne for this and he said yes, but he would have to charge me for it.n bummed that this is an inconsistency across the genie fleet.  On days at sea, there is a bar cart service from 3:30-5:30 so we can also order from that. 

Yesterday we were invited for a cocktail in the royal loft suite.....holy cow that suite is just massive.  I feel like we live in a little hovel here on "dick 10" (this accent on the word "deck" I am told, is not Aussie but rather a kiwi accent.....but I use that word allllll the time now when we are out and about doing those stairs and hallways, and I laugh out loud every single time.....). Anyways back to that royal loft....it's really special.  But this grand loft we r in is super awesome as well, so no complaining!

if you are doing the skydiving simulator, try to get booked in with Eva........she was soooo much fun with each rider, doing little tricks with them like flips or taking them up high.  Then at the end, she went in herself and wowd the pants off all of us!  She did this impromptu acrobatic show that had my son saying to me afterwards "mom......now I know why they say boys drool and girls rule!!"  If I could have tipped her I would have.  And FYI, we had one little girl in our group who was about 5 and she rocked it for her first ride!

dinner tonight at Jamie's. Chefs table tomorrow night.

tomorrow is another day at sea.

a video from the balcony as I type......

 

 

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Well our room service arrived and with it a bottle of champagne......I guess six glasses is a bottle, so he said it's basically a wash.

ordered some veggies and dip and fresh berries.....I thought it would be a break from the heavier fare we seem to be inhaling at every turn on this ship!

 

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I'm sorry I throw them out daily.  I can keep today's onward tho!

day 3 ended at Jamie's which was absolutely fantastic.  Once again, service is a little slow, but the menu was fantastic and the food marvelous.  Had bruschetta, calamari and garlic bread.....excellent.  Mains were very good also......kids had sliders, pumpkin had lamb which he thought was pretty good and I had ummm, gosh I can't remember right now what I had.  It will come to me. Kids and I were tired, but hubby cajoled the boy into going to Legs, Love, Live and The girl and I came to bed.

So day 4 was our third consecutive day at sea......we had breakfast at Coastal Kitchen, tho my son wanted to try the main dining room for breakfast so we tried there first.  There are four main dining rooms onboard; whichever one we went to we were turned away as we hadn't made reservations.  The second one we went to the people were lined up twenty deep.  So CK it was.....

After breakfast, I went swimming with the kids.  There is a cigarette smoke smell that drifts into the indoor (ish) pool area.  There is a small lazy river and water slides for smaller kids at the outdoor pool.  My two were too big for those. After that we received a private bridge tour, as we ran into the captain a couple of nights earlier and we recognized him from a previous cruise so he was good enough to arrange a private more close up tour.  Crazy small world, I met an Officer up there who grew up in the same part of the city as me (Winnipeg) so it was like old homecoming week there for about twenty minutes....."so did you know so and so?"......

from there it was lunch at of all places, windjammer.  Nothing there appealed to me, but hubby ate....said it was ok.  Then it was on to the skydiving simulator again, then kids tried rollerskating ( be prepared......go early enuf to put all the equipment on, get the skates, and be aware that the safety equipment is pretty gross......Velcro is old, elastics are stretched and it's sweaty! )

dinner was at the chefs table......I have never done one before. I'm a foodie and I love learning about food and cooking so I really enjoyed it.  The food was sublime and the server, Andrej, was hilarious.  He was doing tricks with water glasses and champagne corks and bottles.....and there was a really nice group of people around the table.  I felt very fortunate and rather tipsy.....there were some really lovely wines throughout the meal and by the end of the whole thing, with a full belly and a bit too much wine onboard, I just wanted to go home to sleep!

I'm still trying to hook Luciano up with Eva......stay tuned......

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36 minutes ago, Bish said:

So day 4 was our third consecutive day at sea......we had breakfast at Coastal Kitchen, tho my son wanted to try the main dining room for breakfast so we tried there first.  There are four main dining rooms onboard; whichever one we went to we were turned away as we hadn't made reservations.

First off reservations... for breakfast!?!?! Going to say that is a first. If you didn't already, should have played the Star class card and seen if magicly your name appeared on the reservation list. Next time you want to attempt breakfast in the dining room I'd suggest giving your Genie a call. Still, revervations... for breakfast...

--Removed some comments from my initial post--

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Well I'm so glad I'm not the only one who has never experienced "reservations" at breakfast.....

today started with a 15-minute late in room breakfast as we were dashing off the boat at 8 for a half day tour (booked by a wonderful trio staying in the royal loft suite).  In suite coffee maker, an Nespresso knockoff, just isn't cutting it, so I'm up in that Conceirge Lounge every morning, doing three espresso shots and then a cafe latte, all in the same cup. For those of u not counting, that's roughly 530 steps, and two flights of stairs, but I digress......

Wour friends genie took us right to the tender and away we went.  I was told later that it can take folks til as late as 1 pm to get OFF the ship, so I felt extra lucky today.  We went to a lagoon for swimming for an hour, and then a fresh water lake/waterfall.  Lots of cruise people there as well, so obviously, this was a book able cruise excursion. 

Didnt wait long to get on a tender and back to the boat.

had a humiliating go at the trapeze this evening before heading to Izumifor dinner.  Food was terrific, ambience  was similar to a 7-eleven.  It was nearly riotous in Atmosphere. Won't be rushing back there, tho the edamame was to die for!

I did not know this before today, but on port days, room service is limited to the regular room service menu.  Lunch was hard to find as we didn't get back onboard and cleaned up til 2ish, so I ended up grabbing a slice of pizza at Sorrentos, which was quite good.  They also serve a few varieties of salad here.

 

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35 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Do they have hibachi table there ? if yes you may want to give it another try ? .

Thank you for sharing your experience its very interesting to follow 

Izumi is sushi only on the Quantum class ships.  I much preferred to just do a to-go order for sushi than sit for the meal on Anthem.  The location on those ships just feels like an afterthought.

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8 hours ago, Bish said:

 

dinner was at the chefs table......I have never done one before. I'm a foodie and I love learning about food and cooking so I really enjoyed it.  The food was sublime and the server, Andrej, was hilarious.  He was doing tricks with water glasses and champagne corks and bottles.....and there was a really nice group of people around the table.  I felt very fortunate and rather tipsy.....there were some really lovely wines throughout the meal and by the end of the whole thing, with a full belly and a bit too much wine onboard, I just wanted to go home to sleep!

 

Great information again and not to detract from you time too much but quick question.  Did your kids go to Chef’s Table also?   Our son enjoys fancy dining but I am wondering if the duration is too long.  If the server is as engaging as you stated that would be helpful.

It is also very surprising that you were not able to get a table for breakfast.  Based on some other reports of Star Class I wonder if showing your room key, would that have possibly made the answer change from no tables to “a table should be available after a short wait.”

 

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No problem with the questions.....happy to help.  Chefs table.....I am trying to raise a couple of great home chefs, so originally planned to take the kids, but a fellow star class cruiser said "they'll be bored silly......send them to CK".  We followed her advice and I'm glad I did.  The kids would have been bored by the length of the service, and as entertaining as Andrej was, it wouldn't have been enuf for my two.  Plus, I think their presence might (ok, likely) would detract from the experience for my fellow diners, some of whom paid some pretty big dineros to sit at that table.  

you know what would be fun?  A kids chefs table!  I don't mean the standard kids menu fare, but a great menu with very entertaining service and a kids-level introduction to each of their courses.......how awesome would that be for kids?  I think I'll make that suggestion to someone.....

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 Kümmelweck?  What the heck is that?  Food I presume.  I will confirm the availability of this for the ou AND learn something new in the doing.....

saw pixels and a hypnotist last evening and both were great!  In room dining however, was not.  Luciano said he would pick up from izumis for us, and the rest of the food had to come from one other restaurant only. Everything was cold.  Not sure we would do that again.

cocktails and appies seem to be a fairly regular event in the royal loft suite with three super cool, super fun fellow star classers.  Another family have also joined in, so we are more like a posse.  A lovely man by the name of Marion comes at 3:30 to take drink orders and keeps coming back to replenish the depleted. The  posse is trying to sign up again for the chefs table, with the kids left in a suite for pizza and a movie.  

Loved the reserved seating at the shows.......Luciano meets us outside about ten minutes before to seat us and take our drink order.

we are in noumea, New Caledonia today with no plans. Will likely get off and taxi in to the city for a look around.....we are having a lazy day. 

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