RFerrington

28 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

We are on Symphony right now in a CP balcony. There is more storage in this cabin than Icon

WOW....then Icon must be pretty bad,  indeed....as the storage space in the CP balcony is pretty bad. 

On OA now.  Heading to Labadee; due to call there tomorrow.  I just left the Top Tier Event where it was announced that we have no plans for skipping Labadee.

On Oasis now and we are on our way to Labadee right now.  No indication that we will not be calling there.  I guess we’ll see tomorrow !

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Will be interesting what we find on Allure in early May.   Booked too late to score a CLS, so I simply grabbed a JS.   We usually never do a shortie cruise, and in fact one week is too short for us., but we have never been on Allure, and thought to grab a visit before she leaves our local port.  Plus I really wanted to see Mamma Mia anyway.  

 

Not even sure how many Pinnies lately are actually frequenting the short cruises.  

We were on AL in Feb and if memory serves (and it often does not), there were 43 Pinns on board.  We had full access including breakfast in the CK.  As you suggested, Pinns tend to prefer the longer cruises so there doesn’t seem to be as many as there are on the longer cruises.  There are 73 on OA this week.

49 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Another question, we were on the Oasis a couple of months ago, in a CLS, we got free cocktails, not just wine, beer and soda, during happy hour- I believe 5-8.  They didn't count with our vouchers.  Is this still the case on all ships? Things keep changing- 

Yes.  Sky Class will have complimentary cocktails, wine, beer, soft drinks, water in the Suites Lounge. They are not supposed to use your voucher BUT sometimes they do...so you have to watch them.  If they do happen to use one of your vouchers during HH, the Concierge will help you get it reinstated.  We've learned that it's best to just remind the server that you are in a Suite and please not to use a voucher.  You usually only have to mention this once.  MUCH easier than trying to get it reversed after the fact.

18 hours ago, island lady said:

 

 When we originally turned Pinnacle, we thought..."Oh Yeah...access to CL/SL and CK on ships that have them"!  Nice!  Well worth chasing the Pinnacle carrot.  Now......

Truer words....I completely agree.

We have been very fortunate so far.  We have yet to be restricted from the Concierge/Suite lounge but I'm sure it's coming.  Our next O-class sailing will be on Wonder and you have given me reason to hope.....  

20 hours ago, island lady said:

 

 😄   LA Maneesh (who is now promoted to GS manager) told us they tried it once recently on Wonder...it was a disaster.  They have not done it since according to what he told us last week.  

On OA right now and Francis told us pretty much the same thing.  There are 73 Pinns on this cruise and all have complete CK/SL access with a single exception.  Breakfast for Pinns in Chops.  I am a-ok with this arrangement.

2 hours ago, little britain said:

• Is 150CP included in the 3n dining package please (Oasis)
• I can see that Izumi Teppanyaki is included with a $15pp surcharge onboard

Yes, 150 CP is included.

1 hour ago, Dan83 said:

Drop off and pickup at adventure ocean is always such a headache. If the genie can fix that then we will be hooked on star class. That and embarkation/debarkation. Those are the pain points for us. Reserved seating for shows is ok but sometimes we prefer to sit in the cheap seats. 

If you want to sit in the cheap seats, the Genie can do that.  Just let him/her know where you want to sit.

Nope.  All shows on Liberty are first come, first served.

2 minutes ago, SEA DOGY said:

Full suite ? dos it means there is half ? Partial suites ?

Kinda confuse TIA 

 

There are Junior Suites, which do not have many of the suites’ amenities.  Full suite just signifies that it in NOT a JS and has all of the suites’ amenities.   Just a way to differentiate between real suites (full suites) and Junior Suites.

32 minutes ago, doghog said:

Thank you. Cheers. 🍻

👍

@doghog, brunch on Radiance (sea days) is from 8:30-12:30.

12 minutes ago, wdwkings said:

We have done Star Class before and after the App communication was more common post shut down.  It is definitely different.  It is more convenient but I do feel it takes away from the experience to some degree.

 

^^. This, exactly. ^^

22 minutes ago, I Love RCI said:

Interesting that you don't like communicating with the genie through the app, my experience has been the opposite. I have found the app to be the most convenient and easiest way to get in touch with genie

I actually agree with you about this.  The app is a better way to comm with the Genie onboard.  I hated that the Genie used it interact with us rather than in person.  We do not take our phones with us when we leave the suite so we often missed his comm altogether or saw it much too late to react.
 

I also agree that it was a “Genie” problem. It was a Genie that others rave about but it was our worst experience out of the 8 SC cruises we’ve taken.

Congratulations on booking Star Class.  It is definitely a wonderful way to cruise !

1.  I imagine that your Genie (once they contact you.  More about that, later) will advise you to go ahead and book (and pay for) both Chef’s Table and Izumi hibachi (assuming you would want to book either one or both of these), prior to boarding.  With a large group, that will be even more important.  It’s not a question of “hoping” to get reimbursed.  You WILL get reimbursed for anyone who is SC.  For Chef’s Table there is a $25 PP (all those over 21) upcharge that covers the premium wines.  There is no upcharge for SC for Izumi hibachi and it covers not only the teppanyaki menu but you can order anything from the sushi menu at no additional cost.

2.  Approximately 30 days prior to your sailing, the Genie will initiate discussions with you via email.  Eventually you will communicate via WhatsApp.  Sorry, I don’t recall how far out that commences.  I always preferred email so I avoided the app until absolutely necessary.  The Genie will be available to you as much or as little as you want/need him/her.  In general, they will come and see you a couple of times per day at a minimum and randomly check on you during meals or events.  The Genie is absolutely available to you at any hour but they do have “off” hours, which we can all understand and respect.  If you need something, though, they are always there for you.

One comment about WhatsApp.  I have only done 1 SC sailing that involved the use of the app.  All previous sailings had been prior to the use of the app - communications via phone or email.  I will say, our SC experience with the Genie via WhatsApp comm was the worst SC experience we have ever had.  We saw almost nothing of the Genie.  He relied entirely (almost) on impersonal app comm and it really degraded the SC experience.  This could have been a Genie deficiency or just a new policy.  I don’t know which it was, but we have not bothered with SC again, since.  
 

Maybe the app won’t affect your experience the way it did ours.  I hope not.

Destruction !  Ha. Too funny

Destruction from/to the loyalty suites/lounges can be determined as close to sailing as the night before boarding so there’s really no way to know for sure if your sailing will be restricted or not.  On our B2B on Radiance, we were told the last night of our first leg that we would not have access to the Concierge (Suites) lounge for our second due to the number of Pinnacles on the second leg ONLY to be told on boarding day that they had decided to admit all Pinnacles.  So they can “change” their minds at any time to restrict or not restrict loyalty members.  Since ***** rolls downhill, if lower level Pinns are restricted from the SL on any particular sailing, then there’s a good possibility that Diamonds will then be restricted from the Crown/Diamond Lounge.  Luckily it hasn’t happened to us YET but it will, eventually.

1 hour ago, c-leg5 said:

 I don’t know why they haven’t resolved this by now if it is still a problem. They KNOW what worked before.

It’s a staffing issue.  They just don’t have the staff to service they way they did before.

10 minutes ago, doghog said:

When does brunch start and stop? 

Lol.  I’ll have to come back tomorrow and let you know.  I’m sure there’s a way to look at the dining schedule for days other than the current day, but I’m not smart enough to figure out how !  Tomorrow is a sea day so I will look at the brunch times tomorrow morning and port back.  Sorry for the delay.  Tech-challenged and so I am also an app-loather.  …and it hates me back. 😵😵😂

On Radiance now.  They do not have lunch on sea days….it is brunch only.  On port days the MDR is not open for lunch.

@CSHS1979, how is Laura doing ?

Yes.

The official answer is “no”. You didn’t mention which ship or port so opinions will vary.  If you board after the initial “push” has occurred (after, say, 11:00) your assigned boarding time or stateroom status will likely have little to no impact.  If you want to get into the terminal “first thing” not only will the actual ability to get into the terminal be a factor, but also where (and when) you will wait for the ship to start boarding as at most ports the Suites and Pinnacles have a separate “lounge” for waiting.  
 

Again, depending upon the port, chances are that they will not be enforcing the arrival times so even those with the late arrival times will be able to get into the terminal at the same time as the early birds.  I know this isn’t a popular opinion for some, but it’s just the way it is now.  WHERE you plan to line up for entry into the terminal will, however, still be an issue.  Only Suites and Pinnacles can use the Suites and Pinnacles queue.  Most ports (fair to say “all” of them) are very strict on this one.
 

My recommendation is, if it is vitally important that you all board together, then plan to board with later group in the GenPop queue.  If you want to be among the first on the ship, plan on using the S/P queue and catch up with the rest of your group later.

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

One of my original comments/guesses was that it could have something to do with booking UDP reservations online in advance since Royal said Wonder would be the test ship for it (although, not surprisingly, I believe they also said it would begin in January 2024 and obviously did not).

+1 for this theory.  I think you are correct.  At least they’re working on it (if this is, in fact, the reason for these glitches).