By Jeffrey A. Rendall; Photos by GolfintheUSA.com
First Day – What it was like to check-in to the world’s largest cruise ship, May 10
If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard the hype surrounding Royal Caribbean’s latest cruise ships and wondered if they’re as big and impressive as they sound in the advertisements and multitude of gushing media – 
and blog/vlog — reports. After having spent a week cruising around the Caribbean on the relatively new Star of the Seas, the answer is most definitely a “yes”.
Star of the Seas was quite a ship. For those seeking a multifaceted cruise vacation, Royal Caribbean cruise lines has stretched the imagination to come up with a series of ships unequalled by any other cruise company. Royal Caribbean is never satisfied with what they did yesterday.
Our cruise getaway wasn’t perfect, but like the surveys you receive after disembarking on the final day, Star of the Seas and its staff most definitely deserved a “10” in practically every category.
We’d known in advance that Royal Caribbean had streamlined the process for boarding the ship, so we expected it to be pretty easy. And it was. The organized members of our party had done their homework, so really all that was required was a quick run-through of the metal detector and another scanner-type object perusing our cruise documents, and we were through!
The whole process took about ten minutes. Maybe not even that long. Before we knew it, we were walking onto the Star of the Seas, immediately noticing the big Pearl “ball” upon entering the Royal Promenade. You could sense the “buzz” of a new sailing in the air as your mind races attempting to figure out what to do first. And then next.
(Note: There are now three Icon class ships – Icon of the Seas (2024), Star of the Seas (2025), Legend of the Seas (launched on July 4, 2026, in Europe) and Hero of the Seas (set to debut in 2027).
Big Ships – What is too big? Too many people? Too many decks? Too much choice?
People were everywhere and there still were several hours left in the boarding process. Star of the Seas holds about 7000 passengers and it seemed like a good share of those people were onboard already. We went up to the 14th deck to see about putting our stuff in the room, and were informed that the rooms wouldn’t be ready until 1 o’clock.
Though you could certainly tell that Star of the Seas was gargantuan, the “feel” of the ship wasn’t that different from a medium-sized cruise ship. The common areas were more spacious, but the Royal Caribbean people did a terrific job of ensuring there was ample “elbow room” for the widely dispersed crowds. If anything, you’re really only aware of the volume of human beings when eating in the main dining room or at the shows, etc., which tend to fill up quickly.
As is typical, we hauled all of our luggage and carry-ons onto the ship, which allows us to have access to them right away. It’s a double-edged sword. We figured we’d find a place to park ourselves to wait for the room to be ready. Playmakers sports bar on Deck six near the front of the ship had few souls in there. Members of our party had free access to the Foosball game. There were pool tables in there, too.
Playmakers wasn’t open for service yet, so, based on a recommendation, I suggested heading up to the Aquadome market to get something to eat.
Initial thoughts on the Aquadome Market
We’d heard good things about the Aquadome Market prior to sailing on our first Icon class-level ship, so we were anticipating a healthy number of food choices and willing staff to serve it once we’d surmised we were in the right place. I got a Diet Coke from a staffer who opened the can – wasn’t wild about that. We thought we’d need to stock up in our room in the future. This was the first time using the “Refreshment” drink package we’d purchased, too.
I ordered a Brisket sandwich from the BBQ place. Somewhat expecting the quality to be similar to that which you’d get at a Buc-ee’s gas n’ food stop, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the sandwich, which was basically like shredded beef on a pretty standard white roll. The size wasn’t overly big, either, which was fine – it’d just allow us more “room” to stuff ourselves later on. I asked for chips, thinking regular potato, and they gave me a Sour Cream and Cheddar bag.
Not a big fan of the lack of choice at the establishment.
We located a seating area overlooking a group of performers practicing aqua stunts in the pool. This was the front part of the ship. Wow… already impressive. A pulley hauled the dudes about 25 feet out of the water, then they let go and did a dive. I’d seen the cast “practice” on Oasis of the Seas prior to the Aqua 80 show on that ship. The practice was like a “bonus” to the actual show itself.
Initial thoughts on the stateroom – Smaller than expected? But every space maximized
The stateroom was ready early. It was neatly made up. I thought it seemed a little smaller than our room on Oasis of the Seas, the only other Balcony stateroom we’d had before, though the bathroom certainly appeared bigger, especially the shower, which wasn’t a circle “phone booth” type space with a plastic curtain like on other ships.
After a brief search, we discovered that the safe was behind one of the mirrors. A little confused, but we were able to get everything put away in good order with some room to spare. Unpacking your stuff makes the room “feel” much larger, particularly the “living” area.
Shari had re-packed the hooks from the Rome trip, and on Star of the Seas, the walls were metal. The suite walls on Anthem of the Seas weren’t metal… So, we put up about a half dozen hooks and a similar number of clips. It was well done and we hung hats and various things with straps. The hooks are a “must-buy” prior to a cruise to increase storage options.
After not initially being impressed with the storage capacity, there was more than enough space to move around. There were four compartments with metal bins, which Shari used to hold her stuff. We asked our stateroom attendant, Sandra, for additional hangers and were able to hang up the things we needed to hang. We filled the desk drawers with more of our stuff.
The behind-the-mirror part with the safe had additional shelves, which we didn’t end up using. So, all in all, there was enough storage space and it was well-designed.
The bathroom wasn’t huge, but the shower was bigger than our Oasis of the Seas version and included a bench. Not bad at all.
The shower door didn’t open like a regular entry, it kind of hinged at a point where it folded into the shower itself, an ingenious idea that fulfilled its purpose and added more space. We probably won’t consider a ship shower “roomy”, but this one had design improvements that really helped and included shelves near the sink for toiletries, etc.
Base Camp – – Smashburgers n’ tater tots to die for. Not literally.
As previously noted, the brisket sandwich from Aquadome was fairly small, which isn’t a problem, since it just gives you more opportunity to eat other stuff. “Underwhelming” was the word that came to mind, however. Others who tried the food at Aquadome had similar first impressions. Simply stated, the Aquadome Marketplace didn’t meet our expectations. Perhaps we’d set the expectations too high.
After going over our stateroom, we decided to try Base Camp, having heard that the smash burgers were especially good there. We ordered a couple smash burgers. I assume you can customize, but it came with tomato and onions on it. I would get it without the extras… except for cheese. The tater tots were great! The burger was a tad on the small side, but again, on a cruise you can just have two if you desire. That takes care of the “size matters” issue right away.
The ship was getting noticeably more crowded by late afternoon. Sea Days should be an adventure.
One member of our party attempted to get a milkshake from Desserted, and was informed the milkshakes weren’t part of the included benefits of the Refreshment Package. What? We’d specifically asked them, since there isn’t a Johnny Rockets on Star, whether the milkshakes were part of it. We had our first complaint.
A trip to Guest Services was in order.
Dinner in the Main Dining Room (MDR) — Controlled chaos and fine food with exceptional service and attention to detail
Earlier, we’d also stopped at the MDR on Deck 5 to see about changing our dinnertime reservation, since we had an 8 o’clock comedy show on the itinerary. We were able to switch to 6:45. The process was fairly smooth, though we did have to take time to make the switch, since we’d needed to book an 8 o’clock regular time prior to the cruise.
We had reserved a comedy show at 8 o’clock, so we told our wait staff in the Dining Room that we had a time restriction. The embarkation night menu had the tasty-looking southern fried chicken that always looked so good, but also included Prime Rib, which probably wouldn’t be offered again in the MDR on this sailing. I ordered prime rib, tomato soup and just plain vanilla ice cream for dessert.
The tomato soup was as good as I’d remembered it on Oasis. Matthew ordered the soup as well, but didn’t like it. Seeing Matthew’s distaste, the waiter, Arnello (from India), brought him a Caesar salad in its place. Dining staff on a cruise ship is there to make sure you have a great time, so you shouldn’t hesitate to try something else if your initial impressions aren’t positive.
Matthew ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese. Bethany and Shari had prime rib, as I did. Bethany said our own prime rib was better because ours has Montreal steak seasoning on it, and Shari’s cut, which was originally served too rare for her tastes, was replaced by a cut that was more well done but also had a ton of gravy on it.
For that reason, the girls thought the prime rib in the MDR was mid. All of the portions were bigger than anticipated. Each of us received what was probably a ¾ to 1 pound slab. Big. Came with vegetables and mashed potatoes. I thought the meal was very good – at least as good as the MDR Prime Rib had been on Oasis of the Seas. It seems I was the only one who was as enthused about our first encounter with the legendary Main Dining Room.
I also ordered a couple Embarkation Day spritzers for drinks, which was my first introduction – ever — to mocktails from the Refreshment Package. It was red in color and pretty sweet, but pleasant and I had a few more over the course of the cruise.
It was getting late enough in the evening that I thought we might not make the show, so we left and hustled down to “The Attic”, where the comedy show was to take place.
Comedy show at “The Attic” on Deck 6 in the Royal Promenade
Most of the seats were filled by the time we reached “The Attic”, which left the front row and a row of seats just behind it. Nobody sat in the front row. Not being overly familiar with small venue cruise ship comedy shows, I figured there was probably a reason for no bodies in the “hot zone”.
We also were positioned off to one side (to the comedians’ left). I went to the opening night comedy show on Anthem of the Seas, but that one was in the Royal Theater. The Attic was a much smaller venue, more intimate and more like a traditional comedy club setting we’d seen in the 1990’s when in college in California. Unusual for such a huge ship.
The first comedian started his routine right at 8. He was a heavyset man with a bald head and he made a number of laugh inducing self-deprecating jokes about his weight and his non-traditional sexual orientation. We’d been warned that this was an adults-only show, and if people were offended… 
well, they could leave.
The comedian picked out a few people from the audience and made some funny quips about their professions, but tried hard not to “roast” anyone. That fat comedian spotted Matthew and traded comments with him, Matthew being obviously one of the younger members of the audience and not being shy about making eye contact. He must’ve thought Bethany was his girlfriend. And we were “The In-laws”, according to the jokester. Funny.
The second comedian was a black lady who also made jokes about herself, saying she’d be down in Central Park later looking to find a client. Funny. She also talked about the shower in the stateroom, saying it must’ve been designed by a woman. She again pointed out people in the audience. She said “I see we have a few ‘Silver Foxes’ in the audience” – you know, old guys like me.
I didn’t take offense. But it did highlight that most of the show watchers were younger in this scenario. Royal Caribbean caters to a younger demographic, as we would see over and over again. Younger equals more energy, correct?
The third comedian was a black dude name Tyrone (something). He too was funny. He made fun of the sound the toilet makes when flushing – “Ain’t no way a turd’s gonna survive that.” Fairly clean, but still relevant.
Each comedian talked for about 15 minutes. I was a little worried they might “roast” me but instead they concentrated on Matthew and another guy who sat in the front row who worked at Home Depot.
The cruise passengers seemed excited to be on the ship, but also tired. Maybe it was just my impression because we’d done and seen so much already and it wasn’t even the end of the first day yet.
Afterwards, we took the opportunity to walk around central park in the central part of the ship. Everything was closed. And quiet.
The Dueling Pianos venue had a show going on. It looked like fun in there, large enough for a medium-sized crowd, but intimate enough to interact with the performers. We went back up to the Aquadome level and saw what was there. No show tonight.
We decided to call it a night and just watch a little TV in the stateroom, a good way to unwind.
Up next: Monday at Coco Cay, the MDR makes an adjustment and wowed by SOL (ice show)
