Quick summary, Star Class Experience, Allure of the Seas Aqua Theater Suite

Just returned yesterday from a wonderful week on the Allure of the Seas. This is my first review, so please be patient and kind. This is going to be a brief review of our experience in the Star Class Suite with the Royal Genie. We stayed in the Aquatheater Suite 9330. Traveling with myself was my DH, (2) teenage sons, my Sister and her husband, and their (2) teenage sons; making a grand total of 8. We planned this cruise exactly one year prior to sailing. This was a cruise to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

Our Royal Genie was Susan, we communicated with her via email several times before the cruise and she was always prompt with her responses. A week before the cruise we received the Loop ap for communication. Susan made all of our dining and show reservations. She put together a memorable and enjoyable list of options for our week ahead. Once on board, the Genie can be reached anytime on her personal phone.

First, embarkation was a breeze. Our Genie, Susan met us at the Star Class check-in promptly at 11:00 am as I requested via Loop communication the day before. She escorted us through check-in, which is a separate area from other guests. We then were taken to the Suite waiting area in the terminal. The wait here was approximately 15 minutes, just until the ship was cleared for boarding. Another Genie came and escorted all the suite guests in a group up to the Suite lounge on Deck 17, where we were then greeted again by Susan. She walked us to our suite for the grand tour. The entire process from cab to cabin was 25-30 minutes! So completely effortless and stress free.

The cabin was amazing and the balcony was spectacular, I can't even put into words how large this deck was. Susan had Champagne, and white wine chilling along with chocolate covered strawberries and fresh horde'vors. We then reviewed the agenda that Susan had prepared for us and we made a few minor adjustments and the week was all set. The cabin was stocked with our requested beverages: 12packs of Coke, Sprite, Orange, and Diet, and these were replenished every day. Also, the mini fridge was stocked with three varieties of beer and additional ones were on the counter. Cases of Evian water were also stocked daily. Anytime we were low on beverages, we made a quick call to Susan and room service was knocking at the door minutes later.

Our cabin steward was Erwin, what an amazing man. He kept the room clean, even with people coming and going all day. I am not sure how he did it. Susan and Erwin really work well together making sure our entire family had an amazing time with no worries.

We made a standing order for morning coffee, fruit and pastries to be delivered. For the evening we requested a cheese plate, glasses of wine, and cocktails for the adults and chicken wings for the kids. Susan pre-arranged this for us and everything was perfect. When our plans changed for some reason, we just called Susan and she adjusted our delivery. Word of advice for room service: Don't use the TV to order, go directly through the genie. They will expedite your request. We didn't utilize our Genie in the beginning of the week as much as we could have, but once we figured out how things worked, we made many phone calls to Susan and each and every requests was greeted with a "no problem, I will be glad to take care of that for you!" Wow, she really can do just about anything a genie can do!

Two, celebrations were being observed on our cruise, our wedding anniversary and the two older boys 16th birthdays. We mentioned both to Susan weeks prior in an email and she came through with a wonderful surprise each night. The boys received a large cake and a very generous gift appropriate for energetic, active teen boys. And, for our anniversary, we also received a cake and a gift. Both were very thoughtful gestures by our Genie. Another, little fun gift was, I mentioned once to Susan that I liked to relax in the morning with a cup of coffee and a crossword, and surprise, two puzzle books arrived in our stateroom with a handwritten note wishing me a nice relaxing vacation. Susan, also hand delivered aloe for us when I had too much sun in St. Thomas. She was amazing at knowing how to make our experience even more enjoyable.

Dinner, Shows, and Entertainment : Susan did everything for us! Nothing was booked in advance. Completely worry free. We let the schedule up to Susan and she was able to change, cancel and adjust as needed throughout the week as plans changed.

We ate at a specialty restaurant every single night. We also did the Hibachi grill and Sabor for lunch. And the (4) teenage boys ate at Johnny Rockets every single day, sometimes twice a day. Not a single charge to your account. All dining venues went above and beyond for our group. Once they knew we were Star Class, the sky was the limit. I've never eaten so much steak and lobster on a cruise before. In Giovanni's they brought out all the pasta offerings family style, and on top each of us ordered a steak. The waiters also kept our wine glasses full the entire dinner. We loved Giovannis so much we had Susan reserve it again for the last evening. For the other evenings, we dined at Samba Brazilian steakhouse, Chops, and Sabor. Only once did we have an issue with dinner reservations, and it was at the Hibachi bar. We arrived promptly at our scheduled time from Susan, and the hostess apologized that she made a mistake and overbooked for the evening. We were very unhappy, and decided to go phone Susan. Susan made a few phone calls and we were met at MTD by Susan and greeted by their best server. During dinner, the hostess from Hibatchi arrived extending again her apologies and a bottle of Moet. I believe Susan may have made a few calls! The evening went well and we ended up getting reservations for Hibachi for the next afternoon.

Coastal Kitchen, was absolutely one of our favorites venues on the entire ship. It is located in the suite area on Deck 17. We utilized this area on many occasions. Half of the venue was the Suite Lounge which served cocktails and snacks during the evening and the other half was a suite only restaurant that served breakfast, lunch and dinner. We enjoyed cocktails in the evening while taking in the views from the panoramic windows that encircle the lounge. We ate breakfast at Coastal Kitchen every morning. It was a place with no crowds, friendly staff, and delicious food. On debarkation day, I highly recommend eating breakfast here, no lines and no rush....it was so stress free.

The shows were a breeze as well, Susan had seats reserved for us. She scheduled the shows and times according our dinner reservations. She only asked us to arrive 15 minutes prior to showtime, in order to be guaranteed seats, otherwise she would open them up to general.

Flow Rider: Our teenage boys "lived" at the flowrider, never wanting to stop. The boys were given green arm bands to designate Star Class. The staff insisted they go in the star class line. On busy days, the staff had 3 surfers ride per 1 Star class rider. This seemed to work out very well, and the boys never received any grief or rude comments. The last night is a FlowRide Best-of-the-Best competition.

Laundry and Press: This was a special treat. We sent laundry out twice and it was returned the same day. This amenity made unpacking at home a breeze.

Private Suite Sun Deck: Not really much to say here. We only utilized it on two occasions. On both days, there were no bar staff walking around taking drink orders, you had to go up to the bar yourself to place order, which isn't that big of a deal, but it would have been a nice perk. Also, it gets very hot in the sun, and there is not a pool on this deck. Another, final observation, on sea days, it did feel very crowded.

Excursions and Debarkation: During the cruise, in St. Thomas, we had a private boat charter that was scheduled to meet us as soon as the boat docked, and Susan our Genie was very helpful in organizing a quick disembarkation from the ship so we were not late meeting our driver. We planned this with Susan a week prior to the cruise. On the last day of the cruise, we had a 10am flight, which made me very anxious, so we notified Susan and she greeted us in our cabin at 7:45 am and escorted us off the ship. Total time from cabin to cab was 15minutes.

This personal escort on and off the ship is one of the best perks Royal Star Class has to offer in my experience. No lines, means no stress and that is what vacation is all about.

Hope this quick review is helpful. Please feel free to ask questions. I kept a few notes from the trip.

Great review of Star Class. Thanks. I've been wondering how it goes.

Sounds like a dream! Glad you had a positive experience :-)

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great review. thanks for sharing...

Such a great review! We are looking at booking the Star Class Aqua Theater suite in 2019 for our vow renewal. Although things may change, it gives us a lot to look forward to.

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We experienced the same Star Class service onboard OASIS in January. It was so perfect, be booked another cruise onboard in the same suite on HARMONY. Can't say enough good things about it. :):):)!

We just returned from a Star class cruise on Harmony (ATS 8330).

It exceeded even my expectations (and they were pretty high !). Our Genie (Reyno) arranged a lovely event in our suite for the CC Cabin Crawl. He brought sparkling wine and 3 meat planks and bread from Jamie's.

The program includes absolutely everything - all food and drinks. The only thing that was not included were the pastries at Starbucks. We were denied nothing we asked for. Even the milk shakes at Johnny Rockets were included. To our surprise, even the wine-by-the glass at Vintages was included (I had read in other places that this was not included). A couple of times our drinks exceeded the $13 drinks package threshold but we were never charged anything even for the overage.

I hope this program is expanded to the rest of the fleet. It is sooo worth it.

We just returned from a Star class cruise on Harmony (ATS 8330).

 

It exceeded even my expectations (and they were pretty high !). Our Genie (Reyno) arranged a lovely event in our suite for the CC Cabin Crawl. He brought sparkling wine and 3 meat planks and bread from Jamie's.

 

The program includes absolutely everything - all food and drinks. The only thing that was not included were the pastries at Starbucks. We were denied nothing we asked for. Even the milk shakes at Johnny Rockets were included. To our surprise, even the wine-by-the glass at Vintages was included (I had read in other places that this was not included). A couple of times our drinks exceeded the $13 drinks package threshold but we were never charged anything even for the overage.

 

I hope this program is expanded to the rest of the fleet. It is sooo worth it.

The only charge for us was at Vintages, on our Allure sailing we were changed the $ amount for our glasses of wine that exceeded $13, but only at Vintages.

We just returned from a Star class cruise on Harmony (ATS 8330).

 

It exceeded even my expectations (and they were pretty high !). Our Genie (Reyno) arranged a lovely event in our suite for the CC Cabin Crawl. He brought sparkling wine and 3 meat planks and bread from Jamie's.

 

The program includes absolutely everything - all food and drinks. The only thing that was not included were the pastries at Starbucks. We were denied nothing we asked for. Even the milk shakes at Johnny Rockets were included. To our surprise, even the wine-by-the glass at Vintages was included (I had read in other places that this was not included). A couple of times our drinks exceeded the $13 drinks package threshold but we were never charged anything even for the overage.

 

I hope this program is expanded to the rest of the fleet. It is sooo worth it.

Thinking of this, a good optional extra should be an "All in" option, you pay a fee and you get the drinks/dining etc thrown in so basically Star Class without the Genie, it would probably be quite popular

Thank you so much for the review! We are sailing in an aqua theater suite this May and you just made me even more excited!

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Thank you for taking us along. Felt like traveling with you.

Thanks for the report.

Thanks for the great review.

Great review! I'll be on Anthem soon in Star class. Curiously, did you pay extra for flow rider, North Star or any of the other fun things?

Thanks you for your review. I'll have to put Star Class on the bucket list....

mac_tlc

Sounds like a "bucket list" item for me too. I just wish I had enough people to cruise with to make it worthwhile. I have four children, 3 sons in law, 1 soon to be daughter in law, 5 and 1/2 Grandchildren and there is no way I can afford to bring this tribe with me. And of course, you can't pick a few...like the four who do cruises.

Thank you so much for your review! Susan will be our Genie 12 days! She sounds amazing and I cannot wait to meet her!

Wonderful and informative review! Sailing in the ATS on Allure in Dec 2017! Can't wait!