myraid

This thread has been very helpful as we plan our December 2017 Allure sailing in the ATS, 10730. I have a few questions if anyone is available to answer :)

 

1) We are traveling with my parents and 3 children in the ATS. My best friend and her 2 children are in the grand suite (sky class) just across the hall. Anyone else have experience with this situation? Wondering if the RG would be willing to save their seats as well for shows so that we may sit together?

2) Interested in having a dinner party in our suite for my mother's 70th birthday. Does anyone have any information on our options for ordering from the specialty restaurants in room?

3) Does the flowrider band work for the zip line as well? I have heard the lines can be long for this.

 

Thank you in advance for your help!

Hi there. We will be back in an ATS in December as well. I can answer 1 and 3 definitively and give you my answer to 2 from what I have heard.

1. When we sailed last year our Genie also included my brother in law who was in an inside balcony room. Any reserved seating for us, he was also included. Now he was just one body, not sure about several.

2. I have been told that you can order from any of the specialty restaurants and have your Genie assist with all the planning. There is an extra charge for this but know several folks on here have done it. The balcony is huge so that will not be an issue.

3. Yes the band works with the Zip line as well although when we were on the zip lines were not that bad so never really needed to use it.

Hope this helps

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When I saw it I immediately thought of you and the family and posted the info here. All is good now for you, and hopefully less folks will be after "my" cabin.;)

Haha. Thanks so much for this. We really fell in love with that room and in the future when the kids are older, we may try one of the other Star Class rooms

Cheers

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Confirmed, Royal has updated their flyer and TA website to reflect the changes.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/17055586_Recat_Sales_FAQs.pdf

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/17055533_Recategorization_Trade_Grid.pdf

That is great news! Wife will be happy as will I. Thanks for the update!

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Maybe you should look at the OLS and GLS and ask for a separate cot for one of your kids. If kids are younger I can see them sleeping together, the older they get the funnier it would look/be. With the OLS and GLS the adult sleeping area is more separated from where the kids would sleep, giving the two of you space.;)

 

You are correct though, most of the "new" Star Class cabins are more apt to be three person (unless the kids are younger) except for the two larger ones you mentioned. Are they old enough for their own cabin?

Not quite. Boy is 11 and girl is 7. The cot idea is likely are only option at this point. They sure loved the room in the 2 bdrm ATS. We are booked in December in the same room and will see while we are on the ship what they say for future bookings as it relates to Star Class. Cheers.

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I think they removed the two bedroom ATS due to price point and profit margins.

 

Those cabins, I believe, can hold 8 people and used average around $15,000 for the week. Not always was it full to capacity, but if you got a group of 8 friends together that cuts the cost significantly not to mention free drinks and specialty dining. I have read on the boards about people getting this cabin and it being cheaper than 2 Sky Class cabins per person without including the "freebies". I thought for one group it was even cheaper than a series of regular balcony cabins per person. My guess, it is a cost cutting measure for RC to remove the 2 bedroom ATS. I also suspect that they might remove 1 Genie per ship which will somehow will their bottom line.

 

The max capacity for the RLS is 6, and that cabin averages around $25,000. A lot better price point comparison for RC. We are in a SLS (capacity 4) next week and their profit margin is even better as we will only have 3 in the cabin. We have our 9 year old son with us who obviously can't drink, so RC will have a bit of advantage with us. He might get them in the food budget line though. ;)

 

For some strange reason I suspect the remaining Star cabins will jump in price as well. Another thing to consider is just because they say they are removing them it doesn't mean it will happen but I suspect that this is a done deal.

Agree with what you are saying wholeheartedly. However my point is even the SLS room is not setup for a family imo (perhaps one child). They can say it sleeps 4 (no way my kids are sleeping in a pull out couch together) but that is not going to happen. Most that are booking these rooms that are left in Star Class, in general, are 2 people with the exception of the RLS and 4 bdrm.

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My frustration is for anyone who wants Star Class and has a family of 2/3 kids, it is going to be difficult to book a decent room short of the Royal Suite. Most of the rooms in this class on the Alllure/Oasis/HOS are large one bedrooms. We really like the 2bdrm Aqua and have at least one more booked in December but going forward will have to consider alternatives.

Thoughts?

Shawn

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We are in the 2br ATS suite with 4 adults, we were wondering if bottles of wine are stocked/ delivered for you if requested? Or do we have to bring by the glass back to the cabin? We would really enjoy our evening sushi, or cheese plate with a nice bottle of red. (of course I understand, we can carry-on 2 bottles, but with the beverage package, I wasnt planning on carrying any on.)

 

 

 

Thanks for the review, it is very helpful!!

Honestly we did not ask. I know our Genie supplied every brand of beer I requested and some. Wine, martinis etc. was just a 5 minute walk away. You might want to ask youR Genie either way. I am still detoxing from that cruise. Ha

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http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2394389&page=28

Were you happy with your room? I have stayed in an A1 twice, but this will be the 1st time in an A2. Who was your Genie? Room attendant?

We loved the room. Please see my cruise review here,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2431259

Our Genie was Susan and she was absolutely amazing. Our room steward was Dennison and he was very friendly and overall did a great job.

We have already booked the same room again this December.

Thanks so much for all the responses. They are very helpful. How do I rent the rent the wave for a private session? How much does it cost? He is generally an easy going person and will wait his turn. He has won Best of the Best on the Allure and Oasis also, but it has been a couple years.

We were in the exact same room this past December. Regarding the flow rider, Star Class guests get a different coloured wrist band and so the operators of the flow rider are actually the ones enforcing when it is your turn. My 11 year old son was at first uncomfortable standing away from the main line but was constantly told by the operators that this was what they were told to do. My son went on average after every 2 people. Overall there was no issues with this given he was the only Star Class guest waiting.

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I guess if the perk is available and the staff want to enforce it you might as well. Did your son do boogie boarding or stand up?

 

Would love a Star Class cabin but not in the financial cards at this point. Ah, to dream...!

Boogie boarding only and many times they split it and had two regular lines. I was the one that did the stand up. Quite the challenge the very first time but eventually got the hang of it. Will require a few more cruises to become a Jedi. Ha

Having two Flowrider Jedis in my house, I would agree with the wait times on popular sailings; unfortunately, because of school, that's the only time that we can travel.

 

I know the boys would kill for early access riding as a perk. Not sure if either one would feel comfortable using the Star privilege and ride after every 2 regular riders. They also find the same group of people riding every day, and make fast friends. As much as they love being able to ride often, making everyone else wait would probably not appeal to them (having waited on long lines multiple times).

 

I agree that it's a great perk and also agree that they could have designed it better. I've only heard of a few times when the Star passenger acted like a complete a$$ and really screwed everyone else.

Trust me my son did feel awkward and I found him a couple of times in the general line. The instructors were the ones who told him where to stand as did I :D.

I will be on allure in 2br ATS Nov 2017. When you made your specialty dining reservations were they strict on the times or could you adjust if needed to due to other events? Did you do you any behind the scenes tours or access and if so how was it? How accessible was the Genie to you, Are they always available or close by if you need them? Did you have a meal catered to your room (is there an extra cost)? I really appreciate the feedback you have provided and willingness to answer questions because my cruise will be my first ever on RCI and 2nd ever cruise.

 

Thanks,

Chris

We had quite a bit of flexibility with the reservations with the exception of Izumi. It is a food experience that sits a total of 15 per dinner session and the start times are firmly set. We only needed to move our timing by about 15 or so minutes so I would say within reason. Our Genie was also able to cancel a restaurant and arrange another for us with no issues at all. Again, not sure if this will always be the case in general. We only did the tour where we met the captain and he showed us around his work area (forget the name). It was great and our kids loved it.

Our Genie was always available with the exception of the times she was off the ship with other suite guests embarking or disembarking since her phone does not work. Other than that, she was always there for us if we had a question or a request. There are only 11 rooms that a total of 3 Genies manage and so they are able to manage there time quite well.

We did not have a meal catered in our room but from what I recall there will be an extra cost for this.

Enjoy!

OP, did you get any of the hand crafted in cabin cocktails? That was a lot of fun.

We did. Was great but we generally were not in our room around that time to get them everyday. Came around 4ish.

.

 

 

Since we were Star Class, not once did we eat in the Windjammer. Each night was another specialty restaurant. I won't go into a detailed review on each but will say with the exception of Giovanni's, each dinner restaurant was great. For lunch we ate a Sabor's twice, Johnny Rockets, Sorrento’s, Park Avenue and Coastal Kitchen. Breakfast was at Coastal Kitchen with the exception of one morning. Coastal Kitchen was great and the head host/waiter "Memis" was fantastic, fun and a great asset to RC.

 

Shawn did you order room service? I had read that star class has a special room service menu (i guess it's a full menu as opposed to an abbreviated one)? Am very curious to know what will be available for our January sailing as we are traveling with an 9MO and may be stuck in our room a bit lol

 

I never actually saw the menu specifically, but we called and had cheese fruit, etc brought to our room almost every day. Our Genie also arranged to have sushi brought directly to our room from Izumi. I would speak to your Genie and he/she will arrange everything for you. I was told you can actually order from any of the specialty restaurants and have the food brought to your room.

We are considering Star class for a future cruise.

I am a FlowRider padawan, looking to become a Jedi, but its hard without the reps. However this Star Suite priority access could solve that.

 

It wasn't "weird" cutting in front of other people?

How did it work, they made you stand off to the side until it was your turn than waved you over?

This was our first RC cruise and so everything was new for us. We were given the specifics of what was included with Star Class. When we arrived at the activities desk to receive our bands, they also gave us a second colored band distinguishing us as Star Class. It was at that time, the guys instructed us on where to stand. The Star Class guests stand at the top of the boogie board flowrider (at least this is where they told us to stand) so there is really no cutting in per se. On this particular cruise, I only saw 1, sometimes 2 Star Class at the times we were there. Not sure what the odds would be that all Star Class guests show up on the flowrider at roughly the same time during the day. Spoke to one guys staying in a royal suite who said it is pretty awkward going 30 minutes prior since many folks continuously line up assuming it is open as well as stand around "gawking" at the Star Class folks. Not sure which I would prefer but given this is what RC has deemed a "perk", until something changes Star Class will continue to reep the benefit :). As an aside, one thing I did notice was that the boogie board flowrider was generally the most busy with new folks trying it for the first or second time. The stand up flowrider was almost always the same 6-12 guys (only saw one woman do it) waiting. Every time I went, the same guys were there. Not sure if that is the norm.

I hope my thread does not become a flowrider debate and understand that I am just sharing my observations on what my experience was overall on the Allure as a Star Class guest.

Cheers.

I understand that, makes sense. Laura and I once got a FO on Mariner about 3 months prior. But didn't someone say they got a 2 bedroom with 4 people over a year away?

 

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We booked our first 2 bdrm with four of us a year prior and while on the ship booked our second 2 bdrm ATS with the same number of people. Never had an issue.

Thanks! Has anyone sailed the Allure recently that can report on the Pets at Sea store or the Pinwheels store?

Yes we were just on the Allure last week and pets at sea was there. Pinwheels is also there but it was closed a lot. I think we only went in once :)

This is wonderful - we are in Star Class on Oasis next and this is great sharing thanks. Did Giovannis disappoint? Did you only make your specialty dining reservations onboard or prior to the cruise? We had a group of 6 but one has since dropped out and RCL gave my TA a tough time trying to adjust my booking for 5. Did you book your 4-pax occupancy way in advance?

 

 

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Giovanni's food was quite bland for my wife and I. The kids seemed to enjoy their meal but for us, not quite the same as the other restaurants. Chandon was not available so they served my wife Moet, so not all bad :). We told our Genie prior to boarding that we wanted to try all the specialty restaurants. Once we were on board and in our room, she gave us a reservation schedule for the week which we tweaked as the week went on. There was never any issues.

As for booking, it was about a year prior that we booked the ATS for our family of 4. We also booked the exact same room type for December 2017 while we were onboard and there was no issue whatsoever.

You will love Star Class!

Shawn

Good that you could get it for 4 people, I always thought it had a higher minimum occupancy

 

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Many have said that but so far this has not been an issue.

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We will be in 9730 in March. Were you able to get have your Genie arrange any private flow rider time? Sounds like you had a great trip.

Honestly did not need to. My son and I were the only ones with the Star Class bands most of the time so we never bothered. Wait was 5 minutes or less each ride. Was told you could 30 minutes prior to it opening. Never requested however.

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We were taken directly to our room and it was all clean and ready to go. Was about 11:20am when we were in our room.

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What ATS do you have? We will be in 9730 in March. I will be interested to see how you enjoy the room and the perks. My husband and I had a Sky Loft Suite in May after the program started and enjoyed it very much. I have also noticed the perks list has decreased since May. Will you come back and let us know how your experience was? Have a great trip.

Hi. We have come back from our week on Allure and I did a short review here,

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2431259

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Shawn

My first review so bear with me...

Just completed a week on the Allure with my two kids (7 and 11) and my wife. We stayed in the 2 bedroom ATS on Deck 9.

Our Genie (Susan) was amazing. Such an asset to RC. She met us at the suite guest entrance at the port and whisked us through. We had out swipe cards and were sitting in the suite lounge area in about 10 minutes. We arrived at the port at 10:30am and were in our room just after 11am. It is rather funny getting on that early since many of the workers are yelling saying that we are not to be on the ship until 1PM and so Susan had to keep saying it is fine, they are Star Class. Embarking as a Star Class is truly an amazing experience.

Room

Let me start with the room. Having sailed on Disney in their suites, there really is no comparison. The 2bdr ATS is absolutely amazing. There is so much space to spread out. 3 televisions, great common area, more storage than we knew what to do with but I guess if you had 8 people in there I kind of understand. I also like the various lighting options throughout the cabin. pot lights, fluorescent, etc. made your ambient choices infinite.

My mini bar fridge was stocked with our exact requests...apple juice and orange juice for the kids, Evian water, Pellegrino, Heineken, Sierra Nevada and Bud Light (note the Bud Light was for my wife ). We actually had a case of extra water, juices and beer stored in the cabinet to the left of the mini fridge so we could stock the fridge as we pleased throughout the week. For those on here that have said the mini fridges do not get cold, that was not the case for us. The beverages were always ice cold. Also a bottle of Moet was chilling on ice.

The kid’s bedroom was great. Even though the room can sleep 4 with two pullout bunks and two standard beds, my kids wanted to sleep on the bunks each night. They had their own TV and there bathroom was a pretty decent size.

The master bedroom is stunning and the bed is so comfortable. We had a choice of three different pillow types. I fell in love with one and will now be looking for the same type of pillow for our bed at home. Again, lots of storage. My only room criticism is with the master bathroom. Given the square footage of the overall room, I was surprised how small the master bathroom was. The bathtub was a very high soaker tub that I would think anyone with even minor mobility issues would have a very hard time getting in and out of. As well, the ceiling above the bathtub/shower area is very low. Anyone over 6 foot would have a bit of a struggle. With all that said the bath products were amazing. Even as a guy, I have to admit the quality was fantastic.

Finally the balcony. What can I say? It was one area we spent quite a bit of time on in the early morning and evenings. We watched the two of the aqua shows from there, the kids watched The Secret Life of Pets and overall it was great. My one recommendation would be at the bar seating area of the balcony, either make the chairs shorter so you can slide your legs under the counter or increase the height of the counter. Was hard to sit comfortably in from the bar counter and so we would slide the chairs away from that area to watch the shows. Overall, the balcony is amazing and the table for 6 was great to eat at (sushi especially as we requested it in our room for a late afternoon snack...YUMMY)

I could go on, so please ask me if there is something specific you want to know about these ATS rooms.

Dining

Since we were Star Class, not once did we eat in the Windjammer. Each night was another specialty restaurant. I won't go into a detailed review on each but will say with the exception of Giovanni's, each dinner restaurant was great. For lunch we ate a Sabor's twice, Johnny Rockets, Sorrento’s, Park Avenue and Coastal Kitchen. Breakfast was at Coastal Kitchen with the exception of one morning. Coastal Kitchen was great and the head host/waiter "Memis" was fantastic, fun and a great asset to RC.

Activities

There is lots to do on the ship. My son was constantly on the Flowrider and Zipline while my daughter wanted to rock climb and swim in the round current pool. Star class is pretty great to have when using these amenities since we were in a separate line and after every two people went, we could go. Flowrider gets pretty busy especially on sea days and so this was a great perk. My son did have a few “run ins” with some of the other older kids but all was cleared up after the operator explained the suite class system. At first I was a bit uncomfortable with this privilege, but after a day I was fine .

Star Class

Prior to our cruise I read and asked many questions around Star Class and what is and is not included. Let me tell you very simply that there were only two items NOT included with Star Class…Starbucks pastries and the arcade. The kids wanted to use the arcade at times and so we purchased a $50 swipe card and all went well. Literally everything else was included. I will also say that some of the restaurants (won’t name names) included bottles of wine/champagne and no extra cost. Star class really is an amazing perk. Disembarking was so fast, we were literally whisked through and at the security officer in about 10 minutes from the time we left our room. I was amazed at how long the general line was and we would have missed our noon flight had we been in it. I guess customs was short staffed and people were very irate.

Overall, this was an amazing experience and we truly loved our time on Allure. We have already booked our next cruise in the same ATS room type next December.

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers,

Shawn

Good luck with them showing soccer, depending on the time it's on. I went to watch Monday Night Football and they were not showing it. Had to watch in our cabin.

Did you ask and they said no?

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I would try the On Air Club, deck 5, Royal Promenade.

Perfect. Thanks so much!