chandlm

So i know a bunch of you are asking about if the genies switch rooms or not throughout the weeks and a majority said they did, however, this is a question I asked Francesco last week and he said that they no longer switch. He said it is easier on them if they have the same cabins every week so they are no longer on a rotation like they use to be when this program rolled out

I am sorry for the confusion about what CK served on embarkation day. We did not eat there the first day, I was just trying to remember what Francesco told us. However, i am certain that it is open. We did not make any food reservations before hand and had no problem getting those once onboard, however, we did book the excursions before hand because we didn't want to wait.

You will get the answers of "I'll check on that" and other similar answers the first day. I believe this is because they have other cabins and don't remember every email that was sent. However, Francesco did check on everything and made it all perfect. They are all great and try their hardest you literally just have to ask for what you want and they will try to make it happen.

As far as chops, there is a small red box on the menu which is extra and it included the aged steak and the lobster. Johnny Rockets' milkshakes are not included either is scoops. Most drinks such as cocktails or margaritas are priced under the 13 dollar threshold.

I thank everyone who has posted information about Star Class perks. We will be on the Allure on deck 17 in one of the Star Class Suites later this year. Both of us were hoping to have the beverage cart come by our stateroom every afternoon. Also, it helps being prepared for two stateroom attendants. We like to give extra tips, and we are low maintenance. Probably we will spend a lot of time in the SL and in Coastal Kitchen. We would like to eat in some of the speciality restaurants. Are Giovannti's and Coastal Kitchen open for lunch on embarkation day for suite guests?

Unsure about Giovanni's table because I was unaware that they ever served lunch however, Costal is open for lunch with an a la carte menu starting at 12 i believe. Windjammer was beyond packed on opening day and the suite lounge/ Costal is very relaxing with a bar that connects the two.

Thank you for posting. We have 2 star class cruises planned for Jan and May 2017 so we are very interested in how star class is proceeding. Good to know about chips and salsa. Trying to figure out how to have drinks on our ATS balcony without having to run back to the bar every half hour. Sure wish Royal would provide or allow you to buy alcohol for the suite.

The minibar only comes with soda and water to begin with. However, The first question Francesco asked was what other drinks we want. They can bring you any alcohol you want such as wine or beer but they just can not bring you hard liquor. However, you can call the genie and he can arrange for drinks to be brought out to you if you want something besides beer, wine or champagne.

Question about specialty dinning, did you make reservations ahead of time from your online planner, just to make sure you get in the days and times that you wanted? And if so do they refund your money in way of OBC, since you have to pay upfront?

We did not do any reservations before the cruise. When Francesco reached out to us two weeks before, we asked for some reservations and those we taken care of no problem. We even made a reservation at Chops the night before we wanted to go and he made it happen. I would wait because they can literally get you in anywhere you want.

As far as the refund i would assume OBC but i can not get guarantee this. We had some drinks that were actually charged to the room by mistake but Francesco refunded the money onto our account. So i assume they would do the same for the restaurants if you pre paid already

Hey guys I am new to Cruise Critic however, I followed Matt's journey along with others leading up to the cruise this summer. I know on other threads and post people have had major concerns about what is included and if they are going away with certain aspects on the Star Class. So i am here for the latest update as I just got off the ship this morning.

To start with we did have Francesco as our journey just as Matt did and he was unbelievable. He was able to get everything we wanted but was never in our faces all the time, which was nice. We painted contact through deck phones and the phone would literally ring once and he picked up and attentive. Carmen was the lead stewardess and she was simply amazing. Always there, helping out asking questions and even ordering a large Orange Juice container so we could have mimosas in the morning. She literally worked around our schedule.

A quick recap of what is included and what they have gone away with is this:

-They restarted the cocktails in room. A cart comes around daily with a cocktail menu

- All speciality dining is included EXCEPT: Lobster at Chops, Scoops, and Starbucks Pastries

-Any reasonable drink is included, Unlimited/Ultimate is one in the same. You want a drink, it is free unless you drink top of the line wine

- Beer, wine, champagne can be brought to your room whenever. Francesco brought us 2 bottles of wine, 12 Budweiser and 12 Budlight and Carmen always kept them iced

- Snacks can be arranged in your room, we were able to get chips, guac, and salsa brought up from Sabor every day

- A one on one galley tour was provided along with group bridge and backstage tours.

-There is no priority access for Rock climbing or Ice skating, however, there is for FlowRider and Zipline. Every third person to go is from the star class line. In my case there was never any other star class people in line so i was always the third to go.

- Star class is allowed to go to their rooms right when boarding starts, every other class and room waits until 1

-Reserved seating is easy, you tell the Genie and they meet you at the event and have the best seats waiting for you

-A new thing I believe is that at bars you get priority access. You walk up and they see your card and you will be the next one attended to. This happened on multiple occassions

Really this was an amazing cruise and the Star Class is amazing. Anything you could want is possible and only a call away.