SwagsAF Posted January 7, 2020 Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 Good Morning! First off, I want to say thank you to everyone that posts on this message board regularly. I have learned so much from reading all of your posts and live blogs! We will soon set sail on our first ever star class cruise (Anthem of the Seas Grand Loft Suite, Jan 27 2020). We are sooooo excited! We have been assigned Romina as our genie. She is brand new as a genie for RCCL. While I haven't seen much in the way of reviews for her, so far she has provided wonderful pre cruise communication and seems to be very eager to provide exceptional service to our family. I love the idea of thanking your genie by gifting them with something personalized. We of course plan on tipping her accordingly, but would like to provide her with something additional. Since she is brand new, I am sure there are plenty of options for gifts that she could find useful and thoughtful. What are some of the best gift ideas that you all have seen? I was looking to personalize something for her, but I am honestly not very creative. Thanks everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyDillo Posted January 7, 2020 Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 They don't really have a lot of place to store stuff..so I typically lean towards something consumable when making a gift suggestion. If there's a local item from your area that you can bring to gift them that might be an idea for someone you know nothing about. If there's younger children, have them make a thank you card or draw a picture. The physical things we've gifted weren't planned (we gifted a USB charger to a room steward that had made a comment about it) and we often brought back treats from the ports for crew members. SwagsAF 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 7, 2020 Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 Welcome to the SC snobs' club. All are welcome ! I am definitely going to bow to Lovetocruise2002 here. She did an excellent job of personalizing their gifts to their Genie on her first SC cruise. I guess the only question is whether or not you have time to do the kind of personalized gifts that she did... On our last SC cruise (Dec. 8 on Oasis) I brought back some things that I had gotten on a recent trip to the Middle East, which included a lovely (smallish) Aladdin's Lamp. Come to find out, the Genies are all given small genie lamps when they enter the program, so it was kind of a bust, but I tried.... The thing to keep in mind is that they have very little personal space in their cabins so whatever you get, be sure that it isn't big !! I usually give the female Genies something like a pashmina wrap, which I also gave Joyce along with her lamp...for the guys I usually give them something from a favorite or local sports team like a ball cap or a jersey. Interestingly, on our Dec. 8 Oasis cruise, our Genie did NOT give us gifts, which is the first time I have had that happen. Honestly, the gift-giving (on my part) was initiated b/c I felt bad that the Genie gave me a gift but I had nothing (except for money) to give them in return. Frankly, if I had known that she wasn't going to give us anything, I wouldn't have bothered. On our first few SC cruises, the Genie (happened to be Reyno, both times) went way out of his way to give us personalized gifts. It seems that Reyno had gone so far as to go online and track down Dan's Facebook and twitter accounts (I have neither) and learned that Dan was a Marine Corps pilot in his younger days and had gotten a gift that reflected Dan's background. Reyno, is, himself, a milit'ry (spoken with a dashing South African accent) man...so they had a lot in common right off the bat. After that first time, I made sure I had something to give back ! I think you're going to love being SC on Anthem. We did B2B SC cruises on Anthem last Feb. and it was the best trip(s) ever. There are many activities and events for which having a Genie really makes a big difference. If you have children along who will enjoy things like bumper cars and roller skating, it is particularly awesome. The downside is the lackluster Coastal Kitchen and lack of Suites Lounge but you will be spending most of your time in the specialty restaurants anyway....so it's not a huge deal. Make sure Romina gets you reserved seating in the Music Hall and 270 for the cover band concerts. She will probably tell you, officially, she cannot reserve seats in the Music Hall, but privately she will make sure you are taken care of. I am still an Oasis class lover, but for being SC, I think it is really extra helpful on the Q class ships...there are so many special activities. Which deck are you on ? the GLS on Deck 8 are amazing !! Jax and SwagsAF 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted January 7, 2020 Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 I am going it echo what @AshleyDillo and @WAAAYTOOO already said. Cash and consumables work best. They have very little storage space. We put together a small gift bag for our our genie with some chocolates, organic soap, a notebook, and a stainless steel bottle. The bottle was personalize with one of her favourite quotes. Nothing was larger (in size) then the bag. Matt, SwagsAF, Jax and 2 others 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 We just sailed anthem in star class and gave our genie some personalized items from which included a toque for those cold sailings out of NYC, socks to rock his outfits, Maple leaf fudge and a pocket farmacy from Saje for self care while on-board. He seemed to really love everything and made a point of wearing the socks but the pocket farmacy was a definite home run....he took it to the steam shower, shared with a fellow crew member and would report back daily on how great it was! Items were very compact. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetPea Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 I asked our Genie where he was from and brought him snacks popular in India, his home country, which i thought would be tough for him to find while on the ship. I was successful on 2 of my 3 picks, but one he was bringing home to his wife which was her favorite. So we had a laugh about me finding something in the States that he was bringing back home to his wife... I also gave personalized stationary and a pen set engraved with his name. He loved them both, but i know he was not able to use the stationary onboard. SwagsAF and Jax 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAAAYTOOO Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 11 hours ago, SweetPea said: I asked our Genie what's he was from and brought him snacks popular in India, his home country, which i thought we be tough for him to find while on the ship. I was successful on 2 of my 3 picks, but one he was bringing home to his wife which was her favorite. So we had a laugh about me finding something in the States that he was bringing back home to his wife... I also have personalized stationary and a pen set engraved with his name. He loved them both, but i know he was not able to use the stationary onboard. VERY nice !! SwagsAF 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScooterScott22 Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 Quick word of caution, while it is probably extremely rare, genie assignments can change. We had a couple of gifts from our local area and one was personalized for our genie. The day of boarding we were notified that our genie was changed. So we were stuck with that personalized item. We passed along the other gifts and a little extra $$$. SwagsAF, WAAAYTOOO and SweetPea 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwagsAF Posted January 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 On 1/7/2020 at 4:55 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said: I am going it echo what @AshleyDillo and @WAAAYTOOO already said. Cash and consumables work best. They have very little storage space. We put together a small gift bag for our our genie with some chocolates, organic soap, a notebook, and a stainless steel bottle. The bottle was personalize with one of her favourite quotes. Nothing was larger (in size) then the bag. This is a great gift! thanks fo the ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwagsAF Posted January 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 On 1/8/2020 at 9:24 AM, ScooterScott22 said: Quick word of caution, while it is probably extremely rare, genie assignments can change. We had a couple of gifts from our local area and one was personalized for our genie. The day of boarding we were notified that our genie was changed. So we were stuck with that personalized item. We passed along the other gifts and a little extra $$$. I hope this doesn't happen! So far our genie is fantastic, i really don't want it to change. I may stay away from personalization... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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