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Genie Service not what we expect.....


Big Red

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I will start with that we have only cruised Star Class once and it was during the end of the pandemic this past January.  

     They arranged all of our dining and saved spots for each us at the three major shows and comedy club show.  Out side of that, the genie didn't do much else.  We also only saw at most 3 times on the ship.  We are easy going laid back folks and  only asked for easy things(that we thought would be easy to be granted), like some candy and popcorn to watch some movies the last two nights of the cruise, and we got told sorry, that we would need to pay the extra $2-5 to get those items at the sugar treats store onboard the ship.  Which I thought the genie would recover any cost, with the large tip we had planned to give them at the end of the cruise, but I guess not.... So no on candy, and popcorn.  We also asked to have Jack Daniels or Crown Royal in the room(my drink of choice with a splash of coke), but was told those are only available at the bar, and I would need to go to the bar when ever I wanted one of those... 😪

     To me, in the end, it wasn't worth it, and the genie even passed us off the night before debarkation(as there contract for the boat ended at 6pm the night before, and right at 6pm the phone to the genie was dead), so we didn't even get to say bye, or give them there tip in person(very rude), and yes we still tipped them(even though my wife didn't want too).  But, the genie did leave us some goofy hats in our room😐...

    We have one more Star Class room coming up next month, and hope that it will change a little, with restrictions opening up a bit more.  Plus we are traveling with a larger group of 12 (8 of which are not in our room).   We are a month out, and we asked for these 4-5 things.  We will update or add comments to the is post when we get a response, and what they could take care of.

#1 We asked to get a particular Cabana in Coco Cay at the Beach Club (that we have already paid for).

#2 I asked the Genie to arrange transport for us to and from the Beach Club Cabana.(just seeing if we didn't have to wait for transport)

#3 I asked if they could schedule everyone in our group for dining at night with us(as everyone 'not in our room' does have unlimited drink & dining packages), just asked if they schedule a table for 12 each night.  We also asked for sushi dinner to be served in the room for 12 people so that we can watch the water show the 1st night.

#4. Lastly, we asked for the possibly a private behind the scenes tour behind the scenes of the ship.

 

Will any of our requests this time get granted?  Only time will tell> Stay Tuned....😬

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Having done star class a couple of times:

- We have requested specific cabanas (1st choice and backups), and gotten them both times

- hard liquor is not allowed to be left in the room.  I think they can deliver individual drinks but we have never asked 

- anything that costs money from sugar beach (candy, popcorn) is not included.  I have had no problem getting a selection of desserts from Chops delivered, though.

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We read somewhere where hard alcohol was allowed in the room.  We have seen folks get drinks delivered, or at least seen cups of alcohol delivered to the room.😐.  But, we could be wrong.  And the same on candies, plus we would alway pay for the service if it cost additional.  But, it was just the fact that they told us to go and get it, if we wanted it.  We would have paid them for it either way....

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I’ve had ice cream from Sugar Beach which was complimentary when we were SC in Dec 2019 but candy would have been extra $$.

We were always offered complimentary popcorn during the theater shows but we almost always went to the theater directly from dinner so were never interested in popcorn.  I have heard of many instances where popcorn was delivered to the suite (usually for children) when requested.

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Of course, I am curious and if you are uncomfortable sharing then just ignore, I understand, But what ship where you on. Do you think it had something to do with contract ending during the cruise? Our first experience was at height of Omicron and we had a wonderful experience. We have another SC cruise in October so I am anxious to see how it has changed now that the ship capacity is back up.

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While bottles of liquor are not provided as part of the SC package, I have known plenty of instances where individual drinks were delivered to SC suites.  It always seemed like a huge hassle to us to ask for individual drinks to be delivered so we would just pop down to the SL and get it if we wanted it (an advantage of being on Deck 17 and big disadvantage to those in ATS). The only time we ever paid for any alcohol when we were SC was when we ordered a couple of glasses of Caymus from Vintages which were well above the drink $$ threshold.  I take it back.  We also paid for a couple of bottles of sparkling wine for 2 cabin crawls that we organized.

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1 hour ago, Big Red said:

#1 We asked to get a particular Cabana in Coco Cay at the Beach Club (that we have already paid for).

We have never had a problem with this.  Always gotten the requested cabana we asked for.

1 hour ago, Big Red said:

#2 I asked the Genie to arrange transport for us to and from the Beach Club Cabana.(just seeing if we didn't have to wait for transport)

We were told by several different Genies that they don't run a tram directly from the ship to the Beach Club.  They do have a pier tram, but you have to transfer to the island tram at the end of the pier.  They wouldn't put us at the front of the line for the pier tram either.

We had one Genie experience where they DID get us a tram that ran all the way out to the Beach Club directly from the ship. It was our first experience with Star Class where we were visiting the Beach Club.  It was the first cruise we took after the restart. 

All our other Star Class experiences after that we were told it wouldn't be possible.  Those Genies did offer to escort us off the ship and bypass the lines getting off the ship but once we were on the pier we were on our own.

1 hour ago, Big Red said:

#3 I asked if they could schedule everyone in our group for dining at night with us(as everyone 'not in our room' does have unlimited drink & dining packages), just asked if they schedule a table for 12 each night.  We also asked for sushi dinner to be served in the room for 12 people so that we can watch the water show the 1st night.

They usually will be able to do this. Just keep in mind that only Suite guests will have access to the Coastal Kitchen. Any guests that don't have the unlimited drink and dining packages will have to pay out of pocket when they dine in the restaurant.  As for ordering food to the room, they won't bat an eye at putting in a large order for you.  I wouldn't really approach that as "order enough for 12 people" but you should be specific in which items you want and what quantity of each.

1 hour ago, Big Red said:

#4. Lastly, we asked for the possibly a private behind the scenes tour behind the scenes of the ship.

They used to have these for the suite guests. They weren't comprehensive like the All Access tour that they sell in the Cruise Planner, but they would do a bridge tour and a behind the stage entertainment tour.  I haven't seen those complimentary tours for suite guests come back since the restart.

If you want something along the lines of the All Access tour, you do need to pay for the one in the Cruise Planner. Not sure they can arrange a private one just for you even if you do pay just because the times they schedule it are limited.  

1 hour ago, Big Red said:

We also asked to have Jack Daniels or Crown Royal in the room(my drink of choice with a splash of coke), but was told those are only available at the bar, and I would need to go to the bar when ever I wanted one of those...

You can order individual drinks to the room, even several drinks, but the rule is no bottles of wine or liquor.  We even ordered many more drinks than guests in the room to host a viewing party on the balcony for one of the events.

I do hope you have a better experience this next time.  I will say that we did Star Class a few times prior to the pandemic, but our absolute best experience ever was the first cruise we had after the startup.  Obviously pre-pandemic it was satisfactory enough for us to try it again, but that first one post-pandemic really stood out and made us understand why everyone raved so much about Star Class.

We've done it again a few more times and the one we did this January was probably the worst one because of all the shortages and other issues because of the Omicron variant rearing its head.  

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I have done Star class a number of times and been on board when cruising friends were Star Class.  Sounds like you had a new Genie or your Genie was involved with other high Maintenace guests.  We had one in January who was new and I said I would not book another Star Class as the service and professionalism declined immensely since my first few.  I had already booked 2 additional ones. We then went to our Alaskan cruise where we were shuffled to multiple genies due to them having covid and it turned out a much  better experience.  Covid has changed much of the program due to genies not returning and them having to struggle to fill positions and were understaffed. Time will tell if the program gets better, but spending that much for the service now is not worth it to me.

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18 hours ago, Kathleen said:

Of course, I am curious and if you are uncomfortable sharing then just ignore, I understand, But what ship where you on. Do you think it had something to do with contract ending during the cruise? Our first experience was at height of Omicron and we had a wonderful experience. We have another SC cruise in October so I am anxious to see how it has changed now that the ship capacity is back up.

This happened back in January of this year, when the cruise ship was not full at all, on the Allure of the Seas.  We didn't even get told about the genies contract ending until after we tried to reach out to them around 6:30pm the day before we got off the boat.  The Genie told us they only had our room and one other.

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Yep, the 1st time we asked for drinks it wasn't a huge deal as we where fairly close to the Costal Kitchen/Bar.  But this coming room is the larger 2-bedroom aqua suite.  And that walk is going to become tiring during a 7-day voyage.😬  And we have heard of folks getting drinks delivered, but maybe that was pre-covid, as this all happened this year around January.  We are just hoping for a different experience.  

19 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

While bottles of liquor are not provided as part of the SC package, I have known plenty of instances where individual drinks were delivered to SC suites.  It always seemed like a huge hassle to us to ask for individual drinks to be delivered so we would just pop down to the SL and get it if we wanted it (an advantage of being on Deck 17 and big disadvantage to those in ATS). The only time we ever paid for any alcohol when we were SC was when we ordered a couple of glasses of Caymus from Vintages which were well above the drink $$ threshold.  I take it back.  We also paid for a couple of bottles of sparkling wine for 2 cabin crawls that we organized.

 

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29 minutes ago, Big Red said:

And we have heard of folks getting drinks delivered, but maybe that was pre-covid, as this all happened this year around January.  We are just hoping for a different experience.  

When I was in Star Class on Oasis in June we asked for drinks delivered to our room for sail away. My wife and I asked for a drink each and they sent 3 drinks each. This was for the UPS at the very very front of the ship, so hopefully they give the same treatment to the aqautheater suites. 

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28 minutes ago, Big Red said:

We are just hoping for a different experience.  

I’m pullin for ya to have better experience this time, too.  Good for you to give it another try.  I think things will be better going forward.

I can confirm that a week of walking all the way aft to the ATS can be a challenge.  Our first 3 SC experiences were in ATS but since we discovered the convenience of deck 17, we haven’t been back.

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10 minutes ago, JazzBassMan said:

When I was in Star Class on Oasis in June we asked for drinks delivered to our room for sail away. My wife and I asked for a drink each and they sent 3 drinks each. This was for the UPS at the very very front of the ship, so hopefully they give the same treatment to the aqautheater suites. 

How did you like the UPS ?  I have never seen the inside but they look really nice.

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9 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

How did you like the UPS ?  I have never seen the inside but they look really nice.

It was much better than I was even expecting considering it was the bottom tier room of Star Class. We made friends with the family staying in the Royal Loft as well and I think I would still pick the UPS over the RLS for my wife and I. If we had more than 2 people I wouldn't go with the UPS though. Sharing the bathroom would be less than ideal. 

Made for a great sail away out of Port Liberty. I was worried about light bleed from the shades at first, but the 2 layers of motorized shades were very effective at keeping the room dark. My wife absolutely loved the bath tub with the view out the front of the ship. 

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39 minutes ago, JazzBassMan said:

It was much better than I was even expecting considering it was the bottom tier room of Star Class. We made friends with the family staying in the Royal Loft as well and I think I would still pick the UPS over the RLS for my wife and I. If we had more than 2 people I wouldn't go with the UPS though. Sharing the bathroom would be less than ideal. 

Made for a great sail away out of Port Liberty. I was worried about light bleed from the shades at first, but the 2 layers of motorized shades were very effective at keeping the room dark. My wife absolutely loved the bath tub with the view out the front of the ship. 

Thanks !  Glad to hear that you enjoyed it.

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We've had a Genie once, but we only wanted the room, not the Genie. I didn't enjoy it much, but I like taking care of everything myself, so knowing that I was expected to tip (we tipped $500 for the week) for a service I barely used (he got us seats to a couple of shows and did bring us some cute gifts) just left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, Coastal Kitchen....that was a perk I enjoyed. 🙂

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13 minutes ago, Bowen said:

We've had a Genie once, but we only wanted the room, not the Genie. I didn't enjoy it much, but I like taking care of everything myself, so knowing that I was expected to tip (we tipped $500 for the week) for a service I barely used (he got us seats to a couple of shows and did bring us some cute gifts) just left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, Coastal Kitchen....that was a perk I enjoyed. 🙂

I agree. We wouldn’t want a Genie either. Seems like added pressure to me. I can easily make my own reservations. I’m glad there are Sky suites to suit everyone’s needs and wants.

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On 9/2/2022 at 5:00 PM, Jerseygirl98 said:

I agree. We wouldn’t want a Genie either. Seems like added pressure to me. I can easily make my own reservations. I’m glad there are Sky suites to suit everyone’s needs and wants.

Me too. I’d just want the room. No Genie. It’s just not my style. 
 

@WAAAYTOOO totally agree with deck 17. I’m spying a grand suite on 17 on Wonder at some point. Now that’s pampered to me! 

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