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Meet Us At the Oasis - The #MajorStarClassTakeOver Edition - OA 3/13/2022


Lovetocruise2002

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In the car driving home, was blessed to see @Lovetocruise2002 & @tiny260this morning to say until we meet again!

CK this morning was "frantic" when we arrived. It is always better then WJ though. 

Our disembarkation was a breeze, I was surprised at how many people stopped us to plead with Derick if they could participate in our walk off. It was shocking.. One aggressive man dragged his family through the roped off area with us telling the staff he was with us, he got as far as having his sea pass card swiped and then they were not allowed to proceed to the luggage area with us as we said goodbyes and Derick handed us over to Maria. Derick directed them to their correct avenue of escape! 

I just kept thinking now I underestimated this perk, I quite liked being whisked through the terminal to the parking garage elevator. 

We really enjoyed the Star Loft and would not hesitate to book it again. 

 

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20 minutes ago, Neesa said:

I just kept thinking how I underestimated this perk, I quite liked being whisked through the terminal to the parking garage elevator. 

Sorry that your adventure has come to an end 😪  I know how depressing it is to have to leave.  It goes by so quickly !!

I have said over and over again....it's the little things like being whisked past a long line of people waiting...and so many other small things....that really makes SC so special.  You never really appreciate it until you experience it once and then you miss it every time after that when you don't have it !

The laundry-on-demand is another one.  Not only can you send your laundry out EVERY single day or even more often if needed, but it comes back on hangers rather than being folded in a plastic (or paper) bag.  It's such a wonderful amenity.

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Well, finally made it to MIA and sitting at the gate. Happy to report that we were briefly reunited with our bag, checked to make sure it was ours, and have now rechecked it to go home. 🙂

We texted Allan around 8:15 am to let him know that we were ready to leave. He met us at the Deck 17 elevators and off we went. Disembarkation lines were very long this morning because the terminal had no wifi. Like @Neesaalready mentioned, we were whisked past all the lines and said our goodbyes to Allan at the elevator. From there, Allan passed us off to a shore side rep who stayed with us all the way through to ride share. We bypassed the long customs line because of this shore side rep so that was a really nice surprise here at Terminal A. In Port Everglades, the Genie usually leaves you right at customs and you are left in the regular line. This was not the case this morning. Another great Star Class perk. We were standing at the ride share zone by 8:31 am. Great disembarkation experience!

Now waiting for our flight to head back to DTW. We used Switch Health (telehealth) so we have our negative results already with us. 
 

Thanks for following along with us on this journey. It was most definitely a memorable one! Happy to answer any other questions if there are any. Until next time…

@GregDget ready neighbour! 😉

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20 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Well, finally made it to MIA and sitting at the gate. Happy to report that we were briefly reunited with our bag, checked to make sure it was ours, and have now rechecked it to go home. 🙂

We texted Allan around 8:15 am to let him know that we were ready to leave. He met us at the Deck 17 elevators and off we went. Disembarkation lines were very long this morning because the terminal had no wifi. Like @Neesaalready mentioned, we were whisked past all the lines and said our goodbyes to Allan at the elevator. From there, Allan passed us off to a shore side rep who stayed with us all the way through to ride share. We bypassed the long customs line because of this shore side rep so that was a really nice surprise here at Terminal A. In Port Everglades, the Genie usually leaves you right at customs and you are left in the regular line. This was not the case this morning. Another great Star Class perk. We were standing at the ride share zone by 8:31 am. Great disembarkation experience!

Now waiting for our flight to head back to DTW. We used Switch Health (telehealth) so we have our negative results already with us. 
 

Thanks for following along with us on this journey. It was most definitely a memorable one! Happy to answer any other questions if there are any. Until next time…

@GregDget ready neighbour! 😉

Here's to you having a much less frantic trip home than you did getting to FL !!!  Glad your bags made it and they are finally on their way home, too.  Unpacking should be pretty easy !!

Safe trip !

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43 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Here's to you having a much less frantic trip home than you did getting to FL !!!  Glad your bags made it and they are finally on their way home, too.  Unpacking should be pretty easy !!

Safe trip !

Boarding in about 20mins so fingers crossed! 

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Random thoughts....asked for 2 donuts this arrived. ( see photo below) We actually shared with another cabin as to not be wasteful.

This cuteness was observed when returning to ship at Labadee.

I took photos of crew members who went above and beyond, they were sometimes desperate to wait on us and it made me a bit uncomfortable. I kept saying, please take it easy ( as in the song slow ride)

Was treated to animals in the cabin which puts a smile on my face. 

Send the teens duck hunting early!

Stay still a bit, soak it in. I actually liked this balcony more than I thought I would. I know these photos are not @twangster level but I did my best. 

I am home now, and can't wait for our next adventure! 

**I personally did think the entertainment lacking, I did appreciate that they tried though. The absolute highlight for me was Jesse Hamilton, he made me feel emotion. That is a good entertainer, any questions please reach out.

@GregD being neighbors with @Lovetocruise2002 will guarantee smiles and great conversation. What an amazing family, the girls are true light and Justin just the kindest. Down to earth people, you are lucky to be able to sail with them soon. 

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, sammy79 said:

Another awesome report!

one quick question. Do you keep your luggage with you when you debark or do you put them out the night before, like everyone else?  Thanks!! Wonder in 4 days!!

You can do either or. We never put our luggage out, we self carry everything. I have seen other SC cabins put it out the night before as well. The Genie usually arranges to have a porter come meet you if you self carry off a lot. This time we only had our carry ons so we told Allan we could manage without one. 

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3 hours ago, sammy79 said:

Another awesome report!

one quick question. Do you keep your luggage with you when you debark or do you put them out the night before, like everyone else?  Thanks!! Wonder in 4 days!!

We did the opposite of @Lovetocruise2002so here is the other scenario. We were given new STAR tags and asked to have it out by 1200 midnight, everyone else must be by 1000. 

We decided on this course as we had 3 large cases and one medium case,  we wanted to be unencumbered the following morning, we had some backpacks for walk off. 

We enjoyed our last breakfast in CK which was crazy busy people and luggage everywhere. We left our backpacks in our cabin, this was the meeting place for Sky to disembark so a bit hectic. 

Once we were led to our table breakfast was served and afterwards we went to our cabin to brush our teeth and do our final cabin check. We were set to meet Derick at 0900 at guest services. 

The elevators were slow of course and crowded as some people ride them up to go down on the last day. It was a great deal easier without our large bags to say goodbye to Derick and disembark. He passed us to Maria a port worker in a blue shirt who took us a back way to retrieve our bags that were set aside in a corner, lined up with just a few more star bags. She inquired if we wanted a porter but we had our teen who weight lifts in her spare time...for fun, so we were good.

We were taken to customs into a roped off agent desk and then walked to the parking garage elevator where the ropes were opened for us and the elevator was called. 

* I'm glad there wasn't the long snaking line like usual for the elevator or I would have felt like a tool! It was a great experience, Disembarkation with Star doesn't get enough love! 

Have an amazing sailing on the Wonder!!

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17 hours ago, Neesa said:

 

@GregD being neighbors with @Lovetocruise2002 will guarantee smiles and great conversation. What an amazing family, the girls are true light and Justin just the kindest. Down to earth people, you are lucky to be able to sail with them soon. 

 

 

I am so excited about that upcoming cruise. I was so sad that I could not make this takeover cruise work. Spending time on these blogs you get to "know" people so to speak, and you can't help but get a vested interest. I am looking forward to that great conversation, quite mornings in the suite lounge, late nights on the balcony, and wonderful memories!

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It was great meeting all of you and getting a chance to spend time with my former coworker @Lovetocruise2002 and her family. We had a fantastic trip and thoroughly enjoyed our Star Class experience. 

While my husband Derek 😂 (who wasn't in the trip) is wonderful, I'm missing genie Derick! 🤣😂

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I'm struck by two facts from this live blog....

1. @Lovetocruise2002 didn't start the live blog six weeks early, as is her custom.

2. How well she handled the lost luggage fiasco. Not much you can do, but geez, I'm not sure how I would have handled that problem.

Great live blog, it was fun reading about all the fun.

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On 3/21/2022 at 4:56 AM, sammy79 said:

Another awesome report!

one quick question. Do you keep your luggage with you when you debark or do you put them out the night before, like everyone else?  Thanks!! Wonder in 4 days!!

On Allure Star a few weeks ago, the genie met us at our room with a porter/cart.  There were five of us.  When we got on the elevator, our genie used a special card to make the elevator that was going up to go down.  He stopped others that wanted to go up from entering the elevator.  Our genie then handed us over to a special worker and the porter handed over our stuff to another porter.  We were escorted thru customs then the porter packed us into a cab to go to the airport.  

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6 hours ago, Matt said:

I'm struck by two facts from this live blog....

1. @Lovetocruise2002 didn't start the live blog six weeks early, as is her custom.

2. How well she handled the lost luggage fiasco. Not much you can do, but geez, I'm not sure how I would have handled that problem.

Great live blog, it was fun reading about all the fun.

I told you, I gave up on that custom when they implemented pre-cruise testing lol.   Cannot jinx it.

And the luggage thing was a great learning experience.  Had I asked Allan to look into it immediately (on Sunday) we might have gotten it back halfway. But I am thankful that I am Type A and pack the way we pack.  Otherwise, it would have not gone well at all.  In the end, I warned the SC gang upon landing in Miami that I am usually a way more fashionable dresser and I just had to go more casual on this sailing, but that sure beats not being able to go at all 🙂

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1 hour ago, Neesa said:

We spoke about you and your family over dinner, that it was a blessing experiencing such positive people. Your energy was infectious, I would sail with you guys any day!

You want to know what is funny, my daughter said the exact same thing about you @Neesa!  

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Lovetocruise2002  glad that you guys were able to overcome the lost luggage and have a great time , we were on Oasis just prior to covid .  Aqua 80 was fantastic we thought , everytime i hear a song that they use i think of that show .  The escape room is a must to work together .. I had a coworker plan on flying out of buffalo the same wknd you left only to have their flight delayed then cancelled  , they ended up driving to Florida but not for a cruise .. We can't wait to go again .

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19 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 But I am thankful that I am Type A and pack the way we pack.  Otherwise, it would have not gone well at all.  

I told DW last night about your fiasco with the luggage and how I am now going back to packing an extra set of clothes in my carry-on like I did before we were married. She hates dealing with carry-ons and would check everything if it were up to her after her years in the military dealing with carrying gear on a plane. She just looked at me. Nope, not spending a week in the same clothes because you don't want to deal with a bag. Sounds like you otherwise had a great spring break. We are now counting down the class days left. My seniors can tell you exactly how many they have left (so can I 😆). 

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23 minutes ago, sammy79 said:

We packed a separate carry on luggage after reading Sabrina’s ordeal. Lo and behold, our luggage missed our direct flight to FLL!!  We did get our luggage tonight but I was getting anxious. 

Glad it worked out and your luggage didn't take a spring break trip of its own lol

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Shout out to @WAAAYTOOO@Lovetocruise2002@Jax@Neesa@AshleyDillo!  
 

I’m officially a star class snob!  I’ve read your blogs but it’s 10k better in person!  Marla has been an awesome genie and can’t believe how much energy she has. 
 

CK filet was the most tender filet I’ve ever had. It melts in your mouth like M&M!  Thanks everyone for educating me and turning me in to a star class snob. 😂

also thanks to @Sharla for making our cruise reservation experiences so easy and smooth. 

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1 hour ago, ellcee said:

Just caught up on all of your adventures and loved living through you all. The last two years have taken their toll on me and I haven't been in a cruising mood. I'm now excited for my next one, thanks to you all. Thanks for sharing!

I totally get it. Between navigating through all the the pandemic took from us, all the complicated and not logical travel restrictions, it has not been easy.  This was cruise #2 post start up (coming from Canada), and all I can say as complex as it may be, it is worth it the second you step on board!

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I don't know how to say this, maybe just pull the bandaid off...I LOVED the STAR class experience, and I have designs on booking another Star Class cabin BUT and here goes, oh dear oh my....... Sky class is the perfect sailing experience for me BUT I had to experience STAR to understand this.

I enjoyed embarkation so much, I enjoyed Derick even more, he was very grounded and understood right away we wanted to be present in the experience and didn't want to ONLY check off boxes. 

I enjoy a large cabin and a balcony space I can spread out on, I'm content spending hours out there. We normally eat in a snack type way, my daughter and her weightlifting has us eating smaller things more frequently so while reservations for lunch and dinner were amazing to have, we did cancel a few lunch dates for a more brunch or even one time linner situation; as there was a great deal of time spent meeting Derick on time for things that were set and we sometimes sail a bit looser then that. 

**as suspected we canceled a dinner for the last night .... we eat sparsely the night before disembarkation for a more comfortable morning and drive home, we were just going to grab picky bland things from WJ I thought his head would pop off. He secured us an early table in Chops, so funny!

I thought I loved the laundry but good for pressing that's all. Several of my shirts and one cardigan were toddler sized when I received them back, shame on me totally on me I should not have sent them. Lesson learned, no biggie. 

I like to walk and I felt like a proper jerk on the golf cart going to and from Barefoot Beach beeping at people walking on the path, I was trying to disappear myself it's not that far but I did feel special at the same time, weird dynamic. Love the Bare Foot Beach experience. 

I enjoyed the seats chosen for us in entertainment venues but in Sky if I arrive at the proper time I can secure great seats myself. 

I LOVED how stress-free and easy disembarkation was, as no one ever dwells on this process the ease in which we arrived at our SUV was priceless.

I am so happy and blessed I enjoyed my STAR Class experience, I will do it again. But to say I will only sail STAR is just false, it's wonderful. But Sky class is my happy place. While my daughter will beg to differ, hahaha I created a Star class snob, boy does she miss Derick!

Our next sailing is on the Mariner so that will actually be a pretty proper shock. We are in that little Panoramic Suite 1804 for the first time, no balcony but two restrooms. 

Will I reach for my Star again?  Yes, but personally for me I hope you are sitting down reading this...... Sky is my sweet spot, my perfectly adequate happy place! I too am in shock by this admission, lol. 

Humble and kind, have you heard that song? That is my center, I tell myself that everyday and my blessings are to many to count. Thanks for sharing your time with me!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/23/2022 at 4:21 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

And the luggage thing was a great learning experience.  Had I asked Allan to look into it immediately (on Sunday) we might have gotten it back halfway. But I am thankful that I am Type A and pack the way we pack.  Otherwise, it would have not gone well at all.  In the end, I warned the SC gang upon landing in Miami that I am usually a way more fashionable dresser and I just had to go more casual on this sailing, but that sure beats not being able to go at all 🙂

There’s another way to fix the luggage problem…. Do like I did, can’t lose your luggage if you move to Florida and drive to the port. Heck, even if I went full home alone and left the kid at home, it’s only an hour over to port Canaveral. 

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