ajtaylor29

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. We've done almost 20 cruises now and have loved every one of them! Some better than others of course.....But we don't cruise for the food, or for the chairs by the pool. We cruise for the ports, and for watching the ocean go by wherever we're sitting on the ship. We relax, we have fun, we drink too much sometimes (?!?), we have some great food and some not so great food, we love interacting with the staff (who are almost always super friendly and helpful), we love hanging in the casino. We've been lucky to never get sick on a cruise, but it can happen to anyone, anywhere, we're aware of the risks with so many people on board. We go into each cruise with excitement and expectations for a great trip. A few disappointments or oops moments on a cruise do not ruin our week. There are definitely people who just do not like cruising, and that's ok. Maybe that leaves a little more room on board for those of us who love it!

I'll be on this cruise with you! 🙂

The free cruise offers (as far as what type of room you're offered) are based on how many points you accumulated on your last cruise. My husband and I are both prime but usually i get more points on a cruise than he does. So our offers are slightly different. He gets offered a jr suite, i get offered a grand suite, for example. Or i get a jr suite, he gets a balcony. If we don't cruise for a while, the room type offers will start to lower, maybe both of us will get balcony offers....even tho we're both prime for the whole year, the offers are based on the last cruise. Does that make sense?? And, just wait for someone to come on here and tell me i'm wrong....?!? And maybe i am - but i THINK this is correct!!!

We've sailed numerous times on both RC and Carnival. We started out years ago on Carnival then switched over to RC and that's now our preferred line. While there are pros and cons to both of them, we just feel like things are better on RC. Last year, we took a Carnival cruise after being away for a while (because of a great itinerary in Europe). We had a great cruise mainly because of the ports, and we had a great cabin (aft-wrap). The food was a little disappointing, but the crew was friendly and engaged. It was an older ship, but we don't mind that especially on a cruise that is port-intensive and we're off the ship so much. This was a 12 day cruise, and there were few kids and few young partyers. That demographic just isn't going to be on a 12 day cruise regardless of which line you're on. We would sail Carnival again for the right itinerary, and we haven't tried any of their newest ships so i'd like to do that at some point. We've also considered Virgin and Celebrity (one of these days we'll try them!) We did one on HAL and didn't love that one (even tho the food was good and the ship was nice and the Panama Canal was great), the ship seemed very quiet most of the time. I guess we prefer a little lively, not too crazy and not too dead. We love to cruise and really have never had a bad cruise! We always try to go at least 7 nights (any less than that what's the point?!?) which also keeps the wild party people away for the most part, regardless of which line you're on. And btw - while i know Carnival has the reputation for being the party cruise line - we've seen some wild behavior on RC too. So, my advise would be to book this one for the great itinerary and have a great time!

lol, that is true! Hubby and I never had a problem with that (15 drinks a day!!!) but one year we took our 25 year old son on a cruise with us and bought the drink package for him. Most days he was whining about being out of drinks before the sun set and we were giving him our extras?!? That was many years ago, i thought maybe by now they had dropped that 15 drink limit, i guess not.

As others have pointed out, everybody has an opinion based on their individual needs, so it's hard to say whether it's worth it to you or not, only you can decide that! MY opinion, tho - is that we've done Star class once and loved it, and i wasn't sure i would?! We royal-up'd a bid to go from our grand suite to a royal loft suite on Odyssey and we won the bid. We were happy paying the cost since it cancelled out the need to buy UDP or UBP. We really were excited about the cabin, and i wondered whether the Genie would drive me crazy?!? However, i will say that our genie was great! He helped us with dinner and show reservations, always showing up and escorting us to a great table or seats for the shows. He arranged special times for us to do many on-board activities (i-fly, virtual reality, North Star, etc.) - some of which i would not have done if he hadn't encouraged me to, and i ended up having fun! If we decided not to attend something, we let him know and he cancelled for us. He arranged a taxi pickup in ports and escorted us off the ship first so my husband could make a tee-time! One night we had a football playoff game to watch and he reserved a prime table in playmakers for us. We tipped him generously for his great service that week (as others have mentioned, the regular tips are included in star class but definitely you'll want to tip your genie and room stewards specifically). We cruise often and love the suite life! I'm sure we'll do Star class again when the right deal comes along, but i also know i can be happy cruising without it. Just get me on a ship and i'm happy!

we had UDP on our Symphony cruise in December, very full ship. They automatically booked us the first night at Chops. As soon as we boarded, we went to one of the specialty restaurants and they helped us book all week (lunches and dinners). We accepted some early or late times because the prime dinner hour was completely booked. But, as the week went along we noticed half-full restaurants even during hours that were supposedly full, and on a couple of occasions we were able to shift our reservations. We ate one night at Wonderland at 7 (i think) and the restaurant was not full at all. So - try to be a little flexible and i think you'll be able to work it all out. We thought it was well worth the $$, we tried all the restaurants, and never went to the MDR or WJ all week!

We were on Odyssey mid-January in Star class suite. I'm reading these comments and wracking my brain to remember whether we only got 4 pieces or 8?!? (some times my cruise memories run together! We were on Symphony in December, not star class but had UDP, and i know we got 8 pieces that time). But I really think we got 8 pieces on Odyssey....i know between the 2 of us we had a lot of food and probably didn't finish it all. I think my opinion going forward would be that if i don't get full on what they serve me, i don't mind paying the $15 or whatever to get another roll....

We have stayed in the crown loft suites (twice) on Symphony and last month had the Royal Loft suite on Odyssey. Loved both of those cabins!! We loved the star class experience and our genie was great (again, this was on Odyssey so it's possible that things are done a little differently on Symphony). Every day we had breakfast (and Starbucks coffee) delivered to our suite, and every afternoon we had snacks and cocktails delivered. In our case, it was WAY more food than we could ever eat (definitely felt wasteful) but we were travelling alone so we had nobody else to help us eat the snacks! There were usually 2 cocktails, sometimes 4. (Of course, we had no problem drinking those everyday!!!) We even told our genie to "cut back" on the food they were delivering because we couldn't eat it all, but i don't think they really did. If we asked for a bagel at breakfast they sent 3 bagels. If they delivered sandwiches for an afternoon snack, there were 4 huge sandwiches on the plate. All that to say - i'm sure with 2 star class suites they're going to give you so much food in the afternoons/happy hour time that i'm sure you'll have enough to share with your crown loft people (not sure about the alcohol). But, as far as meals go, i agree with the op above - you're not going to be able to serve a full meal to the CL guests unless they purchase the UDP; if they do, i would imagine that the genie would be happy to provide service to everybody in the suites. And remember - the genie is being paid to take care of TWO star class suites, not 4 suites...so, if he/she does help you with the other suite guests - be sure to tip accordingly! 🙂 One other observation: we LOVED the location of the suites on Symphony!! The whole 17th deck was suites, right off the elevators and right next to Coastal Kitchen. Easy access in the middle of the ship. On Odyssey, the Star Class suites were all aft suites, so all the way at the back, with a LONG walk from the elevators to the back. We love the aft balcony experience, but it was definitely a hike every time we came and went from our cabin. (Odyssey only has 2 elevators, and no stairs near the back either....) Maybe that's why i didn't gain any weight on this cruise, even tho there was food in front of me all day, every day! 🙂

Hmmmm, well that's not my understanding but oh well it worked out fine for us. Maybe more to the story for me is that we had "free" cruise offers from the casino. We were using those to book future cruises, and were told we had 30 days. Maybe it is 60 days if you're booking a regular cruise (without another offer).

We have never booked a future cruise while onboard, because in the past you either had to know and book a specific cruise while on board, or you could pay the deposit then have a VERY short window to select your cruise (i think it was 7 days) after your current cruise ended. We didn't want to feel pressured to figure it out that quickly so we never did it. on our last cruise (2 weeks ago) we were told that RC has updated their policy to allow 30 days for you to decide instead of 7 days, which for us felt much better so we decided to do it! The OBC you get depends on how long your cruise is. We've decided on a Greece/Croatia cruise in the fall (Yea!!!!!) and it's a 7 night cruise, so we get $300 OBC. That's "free money", when we knew we would be booking more cruises so why not!!! In addition, when we went to the future cruise desk we reminded them that we use a travel agent and they said no problem. They automatically transfer the cruise info to them and they get credit for booking for us, as usual. We got everything confirmed this week so we're good to go. Another great cruise to look forward to!!!

Totally agree! We tried it on Symphony (w/ friends), beautiful space. We let the waiter choose for us and loved trying many different appetizers, main courses were great. Then, recently on Odyssey (just hubby and I) and the space was just ok, and instead of letting the waiter choose the apps for us i wanted to try some different ones. I was disappointed in all my choices! We decided after that meal that we probably were done with Wonderland. I do think that when they offer to make the choices for you, you should go along. I believe they serve you the best options on the menu....and some of the others are just not that great!

We've been twice and loved it both times! imo, there are many things to do so i'll look forward to going again. We were told that they limit the # of ships that can be there on any given day, i'm pretty sure it's 2....? So, to me it hasn't felt crowded either visit which is a good thing. The first time we went to the Beach Club, very nice and relaxing with minimal crowds. Last month, we rented a beach cabana (there were 4 of us) and had a great day on the beach. Both of those cruises were out of Florida, i haven't seen any Galveston cruises going to coco cay yet...? But i wouldn't mind if they do! I feel the same about Labadee. We've been there twice and will look forward to another visit!

We were there last year, and just stopped by the restaurant as we walked in and made our lunch reservation, super easy! I will say - we ate a little later because the earliest times were already booked. If i had known, i might have made an effort to get there earlier but we were in no hurry and it worked out fine!

You're too funny. 🙂 Go Chiefs!!!!! (yes, i'm a sore loser).

We were on Symphony in December and had the UDP. We made reservations once we boarded, and even tho several time slots were full we were able to fill in the whole week easily. And, several times were able to walk up and get an earlier time because there were empty tables....So, you'll be fine!

Thanks for the review! We haven't sailed NCL so i have no comparison there. But we just sailed on Odyssey 2 weeks ago and were lucky enough to Royal Up our Grand Suite to a Grand Loft Suite which was one of only 5 (i think) Star class suites on this ship. Even tho we paid more, it included everything - UDP, drink deluxe drink package, daily gratuities (of course, we tipped more). I have to admit, i was more excited about that 2-story suite on the Aft than i was about the Genie. We're pretty easy going and didn't think we'd really utilize the Genie that much, but boy were we wrong! Our genie was absolutely amazing!!! As the op described, having everything taken care of - whatever it was - made our cruise so much more relaxing. No waiting in lines for anything. He accommodated last minute changes to our dinner times. We always had drinks and snacks waiting for us when we returned to the room. He brought starbucks coffee and breakfast every morning. He escorted us off the ship in each port. One night we had an NFL playoff game (Cowboys - it was the GOOD game, not the total collapse we had the next weekend!!) and he reserved us a prime table at Playmakers to watch the game! I was so spoiled all week. It really was a great experience, now i'm not sure how i'll travel without it?!?

I think it's hard to make comparisons, each ship is different and a lot of it is personal preferences. We've sailed on both lines, and many different ships, and still haven't had a bad cruise on any ship!!! We have loved the smaller RC ships we've been on so i think you'll like it! I personally think the food is better on RC, but we've also had some good meals on Carnival. We find the staff to be wonderful on all of our cruises. All of the casinos take your money (that's their job, just budget your spending there and have fun!) We try to avoid the buffets on all ships....the food is never going to be great, so set your expectations accordingly if going to a buffet (just like land-based buffets). The MDR and the specialty restaurants serve much better food, imo. Enjoy your cruise!

We've been to Coco Cay twice now. First time we booked the beach club (just hubby and I), got there early and snagged 2 good chairs close to the water. We had a great day! The food was awesome - just be prepared for a sit-down meal as it's a full-service restaurant. fyi, you need to reserve your time for lunch so stop by as you come in to make a reservation. We were there again last month with friends so we decided to get a beach cabana in another area instead of doing the beach club, which i think for 4 people was a good choice. We loved having the cabana, waiters brought us drinks and food all day (food wasn't as good, just burgers, etc. but it was fine for us), and it worked out a little cheaper to rent the cabana than for 4 of us to do the beach club. I would also check how many ships are there. For us, we were the only ship, but if there are 2 ships it would definitely be crowded all over Coco Cay and in that case i would definitely do the beach club because they limit how many people can go in. Have fun!

Odyssey OTS leaving this Saturday! First time on this ship, and thanks to Royal up - first time in the Grand Loft Suite!

We've eaten at Izumi several times on different ships. I love sushi, my husband does not. We both always leave full and satisfied! IMO, the food is always very good. So i have rolls and he has chicken teriyaki or other cooked options, and we're both happy. I'm always surprised when i hear people say they couldn't find anything to eat (whatever the venue is they're describing, even the MDR)....there are ALWAYS enough choices that you can find something you like if you keep an open mind. I also think if someone wants to dislike a dining venue they will.

We'll leave the lights on for you. 🙂

Will be on Odyssey in 2 weeks so i'm enjoying this thread! Thanks all!

Wow.

It IS awesome, isn't it?? 💗