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Anthem 11 Night Southern Caribbean (Jan 27 - Feb 7, 2020): A Star Class Super Bowl


Karannk

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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!

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5 hours ago, Karannk said:

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 loved Star Class on Anthem. I know you are going to have so much fun.  11 nights !  Woohoo !  Deck 8 is super nice. There will be so much for your son to do and having the Genie to assist is going to make it very special.

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I've sailed on the Disney Magic in concierge..  loved it. I had the Walt Suite reserved several years ago but had to cancel. In 45 days I'll begin my third Star Class adventure with RCCL. I loved Disney - they do so many things right!  But the Star Class experience can't be beat. You'll have a great time.  Enjoy the experience. 

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We will also be on this sailing! Just upgraded to a grand loft, and this will be our first time in star class. No contact from our genie yet, but since we just upgraded I am not surprised. I am also excited to see who our genie is and get started preparing. 
we also used to be avid DIsney Cruisers, but made the switch to RCCL for the same reason. We just couldn’t justify the rising prices for what was offered. In our opinion, the royal ships are far superior to disney, even for our children. 
we have 2 boys, ages 12 and 9. They LOVE Royal. Your son will have a great time no doubt. 

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On 12/12/2019 at 7:52 AM, JLMoran said:

Following this with interest. This is an itinerary I'd like to do one year once both kids are out of the house and school schedules are no longer an issue.

Agreed, cruising during the school break holidays, is a big challenge for our budget, including the flights, since we live no where near a port

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3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow ! ANOTHER one !  Which GLS did you get ?  Hopefully you will hear from your Genie very soon.  Such an exciting time.

We got the Grand Loft Suite with 3 balconies. We are in stateroom 10720. Hopefully the weather is nice enough to enjoy the balconies! 

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We received a Royal Up email, inviting us to bid for the Royal Loft Suite. Currently, we are booked in the Owner’s Loft Suite. The upgrade would provide a larger room, separate bedroom area (sofa in media room can be converted to a queen bed) for our son, a bathtub, a larger dining table that would better accommodate the addition of my parents for meals, and of course a hot tub. I placed a bid. I know that the chances are slim, but we figured why not? 

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32 minutes ago, Karannk said:

We received a Royal Up email, inviting us to bid for the Royal Loft Suite. Currently, we are booked in the Owner’s Loft Suite. The upgrade would provide a larger room, separate bedroom area (sofa in media room can be converted to a queen bed) for our son, a bathtub, a larger dining table that would better accommodate the addition of my parents for meals, and of course a hot tub. I placed a bid. I know that the chances are slim, but we figured why not? 

That's a Win-Win in my world !!

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Genie Assignment

We received an email from Andres Villarreal last evening. He will be our genie on our upcoming cruise. I've read some very good things about him, so this is exciting. 

I know that there is quite a bit of debate about whether or not the pre-cruise survey is actually read by the genie - and now I have proof. In the survey (which was sent to only to my husband's email address), I had asked them to include my email address in all future genie communication. Not only did we *both* get the email from Andres last evening, but in the body of the message he asked that I provide him with my parents' cabin number. Nice attention to detail. We're off to a great start!

I'm currently working on our email reply, and will update with more details once available. 

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1 hour ago, Karannk said:

Genie Assignment

We received an email from Andres Villarreal last evening. He will be our genie on our upcoming cruise. I've read some very good things about him, so this is exciting. 

I know that there is quite a bit of debate about whether or not the pre-cruise survey is actually read by the genie - and now I have proof. In the survey (which was sent to only to my husband's email address), I had asked them to include my email address in all future genie communication. Not only did we *both* get the email from Andres last evening, but in the body of the message he asked that I provide him with my parents' cabin number. Nice attention to detail. We're off to a great start!

I'm currently working on our email reply, and will update with more details once available. 

Are you going to do a live blog ??  Please, please.  

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2 hours ago, Karannk said:

Genie Assignment

We received an email from Andres Villarreal last evening. He will be our genie on our upcoming cruise. I've read some very good things about him, so this is exciting. 

I know that there is quite a bit of debate about whether or not the pre-cruise survey is actually read by the genie - and now I have proof. In the survey (which was sent to only to my husband's email address), I had asked them to include my email address in all future genie communication. Not only did we *both* get the email from Andres last evening, but in the body of the message he asked that I provide him with my parents' cabin number. Nice attention to detail. We're off to a great start!

I'm currently working on our email reply, and will update with more details once available. 

You lucked out with Andres from what I have read! We got our notification last week from Romina for the same sailing. While I haven’t heard too many things about her (I believe she is brand new), she is also off to a great start. 

Excited for the countdown... only 26 more days! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pre-Cruise Communication

We have been in touch with Andres via email. Generally speaking, our emails have been answered within hours -- which is pretty impressive!

We have a port arrival time of 1030AM. Andres has offered to have my parents (who are not Star class) check-in with us at the port, the only caveat being that their luggage would be delivered to our suite. No worries, since their room is right down the hall. 

We have requested that our mini-bar be stocked with: bottled water, Coke Zero/Diet Coke, bottled unsweetened/diet iced tea, hard cider, and Amstel Light. 

Our son will have a surprise birthday celebration with chocolate cake at some point during the cruise.

Disembarkation will be around 845AM, so we are planning to have our transportation meet us at 9AM. I have read online that there is no indoor place to wait after disembarkation, and since it will be early February and presumably COLD, we need to make sure that this is coordinated well. 

Most of our packing is finished. Still need to do a few last minute things. 8 days and counting! So excited! 

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On 1/19/2020 at 12:53 PM, Karannk said:

Pre-Cruise Communication

We have been in touch with Andres via email. Generally speaking, our emails have been answered within hours -- which is pretty impressive!

We have a port arrival time of 1030AM. Andres has offered to have my parents (who are not Star class) check-in with us at the port, the only caveat being that their luggage would be delivered to our suite. No worries, since their room is right down the hall. 

We have requested that our mini-bar be stocked with: bottled water, Coke Zero/Diet Coke, bottled unsweetened/diet iced tea, hard cider, and Amstel Light. 

Our son will have a surprise birthday celebration with chocolate cake at some point during the cruise.

Disembarkation will be around 845AM, so we are planning to have our transportation meet us at 9AM. I have read online that there is no indoor place to wait after disembarkation, and since it will be early February and presumably COLD, we need to make sure that this is coordinated well. 

Most of our packing is finished. Still need to do a few last minute things. 8 days and counting! So excited! 

We have also had a wonderful pre cruise experience with Romina. It seems as though the Anthem has some great new Genies! Can’t wait for embarkment on Monday! 

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Genie Switcheroo

We received an email yesterday stating that Andres will not be our genie after all. He will be “departing the ship momentarily” during our sailing, therefore has handed over official Royal Genie duties to Yen Lee.  I have heard some very good things about Yen, so I am sure that we are still in good hands. 

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17 minutes ago, Karannk said:

Genie Switcheroo

We received an email yesterday stating that Andres will not be our genie after all. He will be “departing the ship momentarily” during our sailing, therefore has handed over official Royal Genie duties to Yen Lee.  I have heard some very good things about Yen, so I am sure that we are still in good hands. 

We had Yen last Feb on our Anthem B2B. She is a great Genie but she lacks anticipation. She is extremely literal.  Tell her what you want and she will get it for you but there is no spontaneity or anticipation.  She is a bit impersonal - particularly at first. I have no idea how she is with kids but I think she might do well.  She rode the North Star and bumper cars with us and seemed to have fun.

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On 1/21/2020 at 4:35 PM, SwagsAF said:

We have also had a wonderful pre cruise experience with Romina. It seems as though the Anthem has some great new Genies! Can’t wait for embarkment on Monday! 

Have fun!! Please come back to let us know how everything went and with a review of Romina!! I just got her as my Genie and haven't really found any reviews of her on the ship besides that she's new.

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On 1/21/2020 at 4:45 PM, Karannk said:

Genie Switcheroo

We received an email yesterday stating that Andres will not be our genie after all. He will be “departing the ship momentarily” during our sailing, therefore has handed over official Royal Genie duties to Yen Lee.  I have heard some very good things about Yen, so I am sure that we are still in good hands. 

I heard she has a lot of pull on the ship. That pretty much anything you ask for gets done!

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