WAAAYTOOO Posted November 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 First of all, we are docked at the Port at the Naval Air Station, Key West. The last time I remember visiting KW, we docked right downtown. The super secret shuttle that was provided by the Concierge was a very nice trip down the elevator to the gangway and a trip to the front of the line to get off the ship. Then we walked a short distance to where there were a series of shuttle vehicles waiting to drive everyone to town. This service by the Concierge actually gave us quite an advantage as the line off the ship snaked waaay up the stairs to distances unknown. We walked straight off the ship without any wait at all. Our vehicles ended up being one of the conch trains. So, we rode the conch train into town along with a very nice guided tour by the driver. The ride was perfect - not too hot, not too windy, just right. To my utter shock, Lootenant Dayan (his other nickname) suggested that he had seen all of KW that interested him and perhaps we might consider simply remaining on the shuttle right back to the ship. Imagine my surprise! This is kind of suggestion that I would normally try and weasel into the conversation but it came out of HIS mouth. I was delighted ! So we did not detrain when the shuttle stopped. The “conductor” seemed not at all amused that we were hightailing it back to the ship without even getting off and his audible heavy sigh into the microphone (more like a groan) made us . So....we rode back the same path we had just come as the only conch train passengers. THIS is how the suites do it ! Back on the ship in probably less than 30 minutes, we did what all good slugs do....eat. We wandered into the WJ; I had a burger and Lootenant Dayan had some kind of stewish-looking thing with rice. He had a chocolate ice cream cone and I had some Boston Cream Pie. Ahhhh....life is good. Could be we will try and see Spidee at 4:00. But for now - nap time ! SpeedNoodles, IRMO12HD, twangster and 10 others 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted November 26, 2019 Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 I absolutely love Radiance Class ships, and cannot wait to get onto Brilliance next October! Loving your blog! Big Tule 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said: I absolutely love Radiance Class ships, and cannot wait to get onto Brilliance next October! Loving your blog! Thanks ! What a treat to be back on a Rad class. It’s been too long SpeedNoodles 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 Giovannis for dinner. We have a 6:00 reservation and the cattle call-I mean, Top Tier event is at 7:15. Maybe we will make it. We regularly skip that illustrious event but for reasons unexplained, Dan has requested to go. I will eat slow. The Cruise Junkie, Lovetocruise2002, Guy Gadwa and 6 others 6 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WannaCruise Posted November 26, 2019 Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 That's an odd time for Top Tier event. Aren't they usually mid morning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2019 2 points to report on the bread, olive and garlic warm-up The olives do not have pits ! My already cracked molars thank you ! They did not make us dig the garlic out of the husks ! Much more elegant than making us dig and launch the cloves across the room. Win, win No cold soup tonite, by God ! It was steamin’. Dan had some tuna tartare from Chops, I had minestrone and pork belly. Our main courses should be coming shortly Jax, ellcee, SpeedNoodles and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 The steak I got tonite at Giovannis was orders of magnitude better than the cold crap I got yesterday at Chops. Everything was better...the food, the service, the ambiance. Everything. To be completely fair, yesterday’s epic fail at Chops was the embarkation lunch so I will withhold final judgement until tomorrow night when we will go to Chops for dinner. I’m not going to hold my breath though. It will be hard to top that extraordinary steak at Giovannis. For those who are counting, this makes 2 filets in 2 days. That’s a lot for me. I’m not normally a big steak eater. Dan has the prawns. Really just shrimp, but prawns sounds fancier. He said his was very good. Reh-Roh. It’s 7:03 and I don’t see how I can drag my feet long enough to miss the start of the cattle call. Looks like we’ll be going there before heading to the casino. twangster, ellcee, The Cruise Junkie and 8 others 9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 Casino update: I came out + $25 tonite so I was able to repay Lootenant Dayan for his generosity last night. Now sitting at even Steven after night #2. Winner, winner, chicken dinner ! I have figured out the mystery of using two devices interchangeably. It seems that logging out (log off.com) is not enough. I must turn off the WiFi on whichever device I do NOT want to use before trying to log on to the second device. This is a bit of a pain as I choose to take photographs with my iPhone but want to blog with the iPad so I am constantly changing between the devices. But since I broke the code I have had no problems at all and I have not bounced Dan off of his device once since figuring it all out. I feel so smaaaat. Night night. Sea day tomorrow. #sleepingin Lovetocruise2002, The Cruise Junkie, Jax and 10 others 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2019 Good morning ! Beautiful day on the seas as we sail, leisurely, towards Cozumel. There are some modest swells but I have yet to feel the ship move even ONCE on this cruise. One of the smoothest sailings I can remember. I think we must have a tail wind. Breakfast was in Chops. Food was hot and good. Service was a bit slow but we have nowhere to go today so I didn’t care. We will be back at Chops for dinner tonite. Planning on doing Izumi for lunch but not sure I will be hungry enough to eat much. #stuffedatchops Happy Dan was in one of his special moods this morning. He had French Toast and got bored waiting for me to finish eating. IMG_0045.MOV DDaley, Guy Gadwa, JLMoran and 8 others 6 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 So, not much to report today. We tried to have lunch at Izumi just to be turned away. They were having a sushi-making class today so we slunk back to Chops. Keep in mind that we had just come from breakfast at Chops a little while before (remember the Choo-choo nanner ?)....but we made appearance #2 shortly thereafter. I was not particularly hungry (go figure) so I just had my beloved mushroom soup and a shrimp cocktail. Dan had a rather bizarre shrimp-cocktail-Caesar-salad concoction devised by our (now bestie) waiter (I can’t pronounce his name but it starts with a V). We waddled out of Chops AGAIN and I went to the casino. Big mistake. I should have gone with Dan to the sauna. Sadly I must report that my casino fortunes have taken a decidedly negative turn. That particular session ended in a $600 loss and a subsequent follow-on disaster after dinner netted another $500 soaking. Ugh. Dan is still up over $600 so he’s obviously much better at this than I am but I have the luxury of not caring whether I win or lose so I’m sure I will continue to lose ! So guess where we had dinner ? Yep...the ol’ Chops hat trick ! Dan had steak, I had spicy shrimp. I now have indigestion due to waaaytooo much food today and lousy gambling skills. Time for bed. Peace, out. KathyC, Lovetocruise2002, twangster and 9 others 10 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone ! I can’t believe it’s already Thanksgiving. That means Christmas is dangerously close. Yippee ! We are already docked in Coz and it appears that we are at the downtown dock ! I believe this is my first time ever to dock downtown. I had not planned to get off the ship today but I may change my mind now. I didn’t even know that Royal COULD dock downtown. #firsttimer No picture right now b/c I would be shooting directly into the sun (boo) but I will try later. Heading off to <where else> Chops for breakfast. Dan Curtis, ellcee, Lovetocruise2002 and 7 others 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 Happy Thanksgiving!!! I love that even seasoned cruisers get excited for new things. KristiZ and WAAAYTOOO 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 Happy Dan kindly took some pictures of the dock area when the sun passed behind some clouds while I was in the shower. He’s a good egg JLMoran, Lovetocruise2002, KathyC and 9 others 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tequila Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 On 11/25/2019 at 10:21 PM, WAAAYTOOO said: I hear ya. He seems kinda like a curmudgeon already. I’m not overly thrilled with the fact that we only have 1 lounger but I do understand that the Rad class is just essay narrower than the other ship classes. Making do... That photo was very interesting - I have one of those grand suites with the extended balcony like the one next to you booked for the brilliance TA in May (we're normally interior stateroom people, but we'd planned to splurge on a junior suite for the cancelled independence TA and the future cruise credit from that allowed us to get up to a GS). It looks like I'll be getting to know my neighbour pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 It’s not that bad, really. I suspect that if you had a rowdy crew next door (that isn’t you, is it ? ) it might be a problem but our neighbors are even older than we are so they’re . The rooms are very nice. The balconies are a bit narrow but that’s about the only side effect of the narrow ship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tequila Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 That sounds fine then - we're very excited as it's our first time in a suite and we're unlikely to have an opportunity to do it again any time soon. Your photo of the concierge lounge made it look very nice. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 ISince we are docked at the downtown pier, we decided to go out into town for a while. Beside us is docked NCL Breakaway. Out in the bay, offshore, is the NCL Escape. She is tendering her peeps ashore with lifeboats. Glad I’m not on Escape ! We walked down to the Plaza and decided to have a couple of beers and some chips and pico de gallo. This was the first alcohol that either of us have had the entire cruise ! The cold Coronas tasted pretty good. More about this, later. At some point, Dan mentioned something about maybe getting a cheap massage. Oh yeah....that sounded like a GREAT idea. After finishing our beers and chips, we asked our waiter if there was anywhere close where we could get a massage. It seemed we were in luck ! No more than 20 paces down the side street was a spa. The decision was made. If the price was right, we were getting massages. Trust me, this is no foo foo spa. It’s a hole-in-the-wall place but the price seemed right. $70 each for a 90 minute massage. Done. They put us in a “room” for 2. I put “room” in quotations because it is really just 1 big room with curtains to separate the “private” areas. Good enough for us. I will just say up front that this was one of the best massages I have ever had. Most masseuses hurt me. I guess I’m just a wimp but the whole “deep tissue” thing is about as far from enjoyable as I can get. But this lovely lady’s touch was perfect. You start out on your belly, of course, and I was really settling in...enjoying every stroke. She did my back, neck and shoulders. Heaven. Then she moved to my legs....and trouble began to brew. Here’s where the forewarning from the beer and chips photo comes back into play. As if, by some awesome force of nature and gravity combined, the moment she started pushing “up” (towards my torso) on my legs, the beer bubbles began to be pushed up from my belly. Had I been standing, I would simply let out a diminutive “burp” and all would have been fine....but I was laying on my stomach and those beer bubbles were trapped between my stomach and my throat. I tried to maneuver in a way that would allow them to escape, but nopesville. They just kept accumulating in a most unpleasant location, soon to be joined by some chips and salsa (thank you, hiatal hyneria). It was both horrifying and hilarious at the same time. I thought the legwork would never end. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she whispered “turn over on your back, please”. As soon as I moved, the loudest, most manly, horrific belch came roaring out. It was so loud I’m sure they heard it across the street. Dan said “are you ok ?” I was so relieved. I just muttered “yes, I’m fine”. The moral of this story is NEVER drink a beer before having a massage ! Mike P, Boston Babe, ellcee and 28 others 1 30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregD Posted November 28, 2019 Report Share Posted November 28, 2019 23 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: As soon as I moved, the loudest, most manly, horrific belch came roaring out. It was so loud I’m sure they heard it across the street. Dan said “are you ok ?” I was so relieved. I just muttered “yes, I’m fine”. The moral of this story is NEVER drink a beer before having a massage ! At least it didn’t come out the other end.........not that I know from personal experience or anything.......cough......... PRebecca, bhageerah, Big Tule and 10 others 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 Final thoughts on Brilliance Our suite (1052) was very nice The fixtures in the bathroom seem a bit dated (lots of gold) but it was clean and everything worked ! Of course we are directly beneath the pool deck so there’s a bit of bumping and chair-moving overhead, but they aren’t super loud and it wasn’t objectionable. The room is close to the elevators without being noisy. The Suites lounge (Iliana) was very helpful. We did not go into any of the lounges during Happy Hour so I have no idea how crowded or uncrowned either of them got. IMO, the Diamond Lounge has a better view than the Suites Lounge. We never set foot in the MDR so I have no idea how good or bad it was. We went into the WJ once for lunch on day 2 and it was standard. Voom service was sluggish occasionally but once I learned how to successfully switch from one device to another, I had no problems with Voom. To my knowledge the signal never dropped entirely. I will say, however, that there seemed to be a lot of people out in the “common areas” with laptops so I feel that there may be some dead spots. No direct knowledge of that. Just an impression. I did not go to any shows. Dan went to 1 magic show which he said was ok. Sadly, we never made it to a showing at the Cinema. I hope others did. The kids’ water splash area is a small and uninspiring place at the aft of the ship, completely separated from the main pool area. While I’m sure the kids couldn’t have cared less (they seemed to be having a ball), I felt bad for the parents b/c they were totally isolated from the rest of the adult areas. We did go to the Solarium one afternoon. It’s lovely there but there is only one TINY hot tub. Even Grandeur has 2 ! It was day 4 before I realized there was a Park Cafe back there. The roast beast looked good we but didn’t try it. The main pool area seemed very busy. The casino is smallish and was hoppin’ the entire time it was open. That probably has a great deal to do with the fact that this sailing was on the “complimentary” list for a long time. It makes sense that there are a lot of gamblers on this cruise. BTW, the same is true for next weeks Oasis cruise, so I expect the casino to be very busy there, as well. No opinion on bar service as we never ordered a single drink other than our coke or pelligrino with meals. I’ve already talked about the specialty restaurants. Chops got progressively better all week. I think embarkation lunch is a logistical nightmare for Chops. The suites breakfast at Chops was always good. We will be walking off with the Suites Concierge tomorrow at 7:15. We will go directly to the Tampa airport via National Car Rental shuttle where we have a car reserved. We will be doing a little house hunting recon during the day, and then on to Miami where we will spend the night at the Miami Biscayne Bay. Then, boarding Oasis at 10:30 on Sunday. Looking forward to meeting Joyce, our Genie. IRMO12HD, Guy Gadwa, Lovetocruise2002 and 8 others 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 21 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: Then, boarding Oasis at 10:30 on Sunday. Looking forward to meeting Joyce, our Genie. Take pictures! Still no pics of any of the Star Class suites on any social media forum. And see if Joyce will sneak you into an ATS for a quick pic too. DJsMrs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnK6404 Posted November 29, 2019 Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 24 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: I think embarkation lunch is a logistical nightmare for Chops. The suites breakfast at Chops was always good. Maybe RC should consider (across the fleet) changing the Key lunch from an embarkation day lunch to just a complimentary lunch similar to what they used to offer with the CP balcony staterooms (choice of Chops or Giovanni's/Jamie's and make the lunch reservation for any available day once onboard). Spread out the complimentary lunch since they're pushing the limits with the Key which forced them into the MDR. Something is going to give and hopefully they work it out by the end of next May before we go on Oasis... LOL! heffy2, WAAAYTOOO, JLMoran and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted November 29, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2019 17 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: Take pictures! Still no pics of any of the Star Class suites on any social media forum. And see if Joyce will sneak you into an ATS for a quick pic too. I will try ! Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRMO12HD Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 Welcome back! The Cruise Junkie 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted November 30, 2019 Report Share Posted November 30, 2019 15 hours ago, JohnK6404 said: Maybe RC should consider (across the fleet) changing the Key lunch from an embarkation day lunch to just a complimentary lunch similar to what they used to offer with the CP balcony staterooms (choice of Chops or Giovanni's/Jamie's and make the lunch reservation for any available day once onboard). Spread out the complimentary lunch since they're pushing the limits with the Key which forced them into the MDR. Something is going to give and hopefully they work it out by the end of next May before we go on Oasis... LOL! Not a bad idea. Turn around day is hectic. Many crew do double duty moving luggage, moving supplies, wearing those yellow "Ask me" shirts around the ship. Catering a massive lunch in any venue other than WJ is stretching the crew very thin. Plus if a Key guest arrives later they miss the lunch. Hosting it on a sea day or doing it like CP makes a lot of sense. heffy2, Guy Gadwa and JohnK6404 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Today was incredibly busy and I am beat. Will give a very brief overview Walked off with self assist at 7:15 with the Suites Concierge. Without a doubt the best disembarkation ever, including Star Class. Dan and I were #3 an 4 off the ship. Basically never even slowed down. Walked straight off. First disappointment - no National Rental car shuttle but in fairness, it was 7:15. I suspect they showed up later. We grudgingly paid $8 ea for a shared shuttle to the airport where we got our ride for the day from Tampa to Miami. Total cost - $17.09 b/c I wanted XM radio. Great deal (used points). We did 2 real estate recons and neither really suits our needs. Honestly, The only thing that is going to make Dan happy is a high rise condo in downtown Miami that overlooks the port. That’s all.... After leaving our second stop (Lakewood Ranch), we began the very long and very boring drive to Miami. I thought it would never end ! Finally pulled into Miami airport to return the rental car a bit after 6 PM. Called for an Uber to pick us up but he never found us and cancelled the trip on us. Very annoyed ! Ended up taking a taxi from MIA to the Marriott Biscayne Bay. It didn’t cost much more than Uber would have been but it was still annoying. Is there a way to rate an Uber driver if you don’t actually complete the ride ? We hadn’t had anything to eat since b’fast at Chops at 6:30 so we were famished. The slop they were offering in the Concierge Club was utterly unappealing so we went down to the restaurant downstairs. I had forgotten (until I looked at the menu) how awful the food was the last time we ate there....but I was out of options so I ordered a quesadilla. Ugh. 2 bites and I was done. The truth is when I am very tired I just can’t eat so I don’t think I would have enjoyed it even if it had been appetizing. Dan gobbled down his poke bowl. Can’t wait to board Oasis in the morning. We anticipate calling an Uber at 10:00AM. Sorry you are having to disembark, Ashley. I enjoyed your blog so much ! Night, all. ellcee, Lovetocruise2002, twangster and 8 others 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedNoodles Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 8 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: . Called for an Uber to pick us up but he never found us and cancelled the trip on us. Very annoyed ! This was my experience at the Miami airport, too. In my case, it was my fault - Miami is set up different from MSP - where the level where you claim your baggage after your flight is done is the inbound area, the ticketing/TSA area where you board your flight is the outgoing area (I can't remember what they called it in Miami). So since I was on baggage level, I assumed (out of sheer SpeedNoodles logic) that I was on the incoming level, and my Uber drove through the outgoing level three times before he gave up and charged me a $5 no show fee. I then ordered a Lyft, since by then I'd figured out my error (even though to this day I think that it was labeled by Scarface in a very high moment) and all was good. Enjoy Oasis! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rags1 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 You're writing is hilarious! Thanks so much for a great review. I'm really looking forward to your Oasis cruise as we're on January 26th in Star Class also. Will be great to hear about new venues and the group of Genies on board. Wishing you an awesome cruise!! Pookie and WAAAYTOOO 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 @Rags1 it’s going to go be an “All Star” Genie team for the next few months. Israel (starting Dec 8th), Smitha, and Allan F. All of them are experienced Genies, around for a very long time, and all have superb reviews. You basically cannot go wrong with any of them! Unsure if they are keeping a 4th genie around. Maybe @WAAAYTOOO can inquire about that as I am curious too. @WAAAYTOOO your Uber situation, that happened to us with Lyft in Fort Lauderdale. I was so mad! Like @SpeedNoodles, they charged us a $5 no show fee too and the guy didn’t even call. We were standing right there and saw him drive off! Anyway, I sent a complaint and they refunded me back my money and said they would follow up with the driver. heffy2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heffy2 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 @WAAAYTOOO I hope you sleep well, and have an incredible time on Oasis. Say hi to @twangster for us all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 @WAAAYTOOO Good morning and enjoy your transition to Oasis. Happy Sailing and again thanks for taking us along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 3 minutes ago, DanielB said: @WAAAYTOOO Good morning and enjoy your transition to Oasis. Happy Sailing and again thanks for taking us along. Good morning, to you, Daniel ! Thanks so much. It’s another beautiful Miami day ! JohnK6404, Mike P and Big Tule 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 7 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said: It’s another beautiful Miami day ! Now there is no reason to be smearing my face in the weather....it is cold and rainy here. WAAAYTOOO and USCG Teacher 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Gadwa Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Enjoyed leg #1 blog & looking forward to leg #2. Beware of the Twangster bot!! WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heffy2 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Great, great blog! I hope your Oasis sailing is amazing! Say hi to @twangster for us. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 So we’re finally here ! Yeah ! Embarkation was awesome. Only epic fail was in getting the taxi driver to drop us at the right place. We are 1 for 5 on this issue. Not sure why we have such a hard time getting to the SC banner (so far only successful at Port Liberty) but we schlepped our bags down to the purple banner and made contact with the SC kiosk. Of course, we had to fight off numerous porters trying to take our bags but we trekked forward until we reached our destination. Then we had to fight off the SC greeter who also insisted that we surrender our bags but our will was great and our mission clear-our bags are staying WITH US ! So once we cleared the greeting area our next challenge was Security. Dan wasn’t particularly pleased when he realized he was going to have to pick up all of the bags and place them on the security conveyor himself (the price you pay for keeping your bags WITH YOU.). I thought I had captured the bags going through the scanner but I guess I didn’t. They did, however, all make it through successfully and our next stop was up the elevator to the Suites waiting area. That luggage cart would become very important in about 5 minutes. The moment we walked into the Suites waiting area, they announced that boarding was beginning. We had to wait for Joyce, but it was no more than 5 minutes and I spotted her. We met and she summoned a ship’s porter to help us with our bags. So for those who wondered how it works (to keep your bags with you rather than having the porters bring them), here it is in action They loaded up the luggage cart and on we went, straight through boarding to our suite (Grand Panoramic Suite 1758). There are no stairs on this suite so I had the porter just drop the bags inside but if we had been in a Loft suite, I would have asked him to take them upstairs. I really, really like Joyce. She is funny and has an infectious smile. Look what she did for us before we even got to our room ! It is on our Suite door. Dan claims he never wants to leave the suite. It is, in fact, the nicest room we’ve ever had. JLMoran, ellcee, Pookie and 13 others 12 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Why did the star class greeter insist that you surrender your bags? I would think that they would know the process at that point? And, I wonder if you had given your bags to the SC greeter, then would they have taken it through security for you and upstairs? When we were at Port Everglades, I would not let our luggage go until we reached the SC greeter. That was just before security. They took it through security along with us and the bags followed us. I wonder if you would have had the same results at terminal A. Might be asking a whole lot of questions from here on out. While we have sailed from Terminal A before, this March we will do SC out of there so I will be relying on all your knowledge, as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCCHRIS32162 Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 The SC greeter was not wrong. There is a porter that is assigned to take your bags and stay with you through security until you are upstairs and then they hand off the bags to the ship porter and they take them to your room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGTLH Posted December 1, 2019 Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Yeah, biggest challenge is trying to get the driver to understand don't stop at the luggage drop off area. Just keep going until the front doors. Then having to explain to anyone directing traffic that you were told to go right to the entrance. Maybe Royal or the Genie should start sending a full page picture of the Star class logo. That way it could placed on the dash when entering the drop off area and maybe people would understand. Maybe have a second page or back side in multiple languages explaining the procedure. MamaShark 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 Next is a suite recon. Sabrina, it is my unprofessional opinion that the only thing that has been refreshed in this suite is the mattress and MAYBE the carpeting. I know for sure the drapes are not new. There’s a possibility the couch/sleeper bed might be new. Dressing table (and bathtub reflection) in MBR Closets next to dressing table Same closets, open Closets/ drawers on the other side of the dressing table Opened One more set of closets Inside Star Class laundry bag. Sorry it’s upside down ! This is one of the great under-advertised joys of SC. You can send your laundry out every day ! I already have 2 bags full from Brilliance even though I sent our out once on Brilliance Ginormous bathtub His and hers sinks Each sink area has its own outlets for electric razors. Wish they gave power outlets the same priority ! Beautiful walk-in shower Door to the potty Potty and bidet ! Yippee !! Coming down from the bathroom into the bedroom You can see that the privacy shades are up. They come up from the bottom and this is as far up as they go. When we got to the suite it was as hot as h, e, double hockey sticks in here. I think they like to “present” the suite with all the drapes open but that heats up the room like a broiler. First thing I did was close every drape and shade and turn the AC down to “quick freeze”. Outlet situation on both sides of the bed. Still wholly inadequate. That’s it for the bedroom/bathroom areas. It’s almost muster drill time so I will come back later with the Living room area RWDW1204, monctonguy, The Cruise Junkie and 12 others 12 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted December 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2019 18 minutes ago, SCCHRIS32162 said: The SC greeter was not wrong. There is a porter that is assigned to take your bags and stay with you through security until you are upstairs and then they hand off the bags to the ship porter and they take them to your room. I do understand this. It’s just that we have had too many epic fails for getting our luggage delivered when SC. We now insist on keeping our luggage with us ALL the way. It has worked perfectly the last 2 times. Lovetocruise2002 and Jax 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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