Royal Genie

[tvo7]

I want to to try Royal Genie one time just to experience it.  My cruise home base is Galveston which is Harmony of the Seas.  All the dates I am looking at, you are  looking at 5k per person and up.  Anyone who has used Royal Genie, is it worth it at this price level?

 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, tvo7 said:

I want to to try Royal Genie one time just to experience it.  My cruise home base is Galveston which is Harmony of the Seas.  All the dates I am looking at, you are  looking at 5k per person and up.  Anyone who has used Royal Genie, is it worth it at this price level?

 

I can't answer if it's worth it as that is all subjective but I can tell you that Star class on Harmony out of Galveston is lower than any ports out of Florida.

[RFerrington]

We have sailed in Star Class many times over the years but we no longer consider it to be "worth" the money.  Having a Genie is a wonderful experience.  If you can afford it, I say, go for it.  Frankly, $10K for SC is not a bad deal these days.

[RobInMN]

7 hours ago, tvo7 said:

I want to to try Royal Genie one time just to experience it.  My cruise home base is Galveston which is Harmony of the Seas.  All the dates I am looking at, you are  looking at 5k per person and up.  Anyone who has used Royal Genie, is it worth it at this price level?

 

Yes, as @Ourusualbeach said, it's totally subjective. For some it's worth it at 4+ times that amount. For us, no it's not.

 

A couple years ago, during COVID, we decided we wanted to experience it (cruised this last September). We waited until a new season of cruises were released and I went through almost every cruise of all the Oasis class ships, and as you probably realize, Galveston appears to be the least expensive. Allure is typically a "discounted" ship since she hasn't been amplified yet. When I booked, Allure was in Galveston. So I was able to book 4 adults on a 7 night, in a 2BR AquaTheater suite for $2100 pp on Allure out of Galveston. 

At the time I booked, I figured that the included WiFi, DBP, UDP, and gratuities was worth about $150/pp/pd or about $1050/pp per week (intrinsic value), so the cruise itself was about $1050/pp per week also. A tip for the Genie needs to be added on top of that. Everything else is subjective. It's definitely nice to have reserved show seats with your drinks waiting for you. Being escorted passed almost any line. Snacks & drinks waiting in your room every afternoon. Bridge and Gallery tours (not the same as the All Access). That's just the "standard" stuff. There's threads here where people talk about other things you can ask for (we didn't take any advantage of special requests), that can certainly add to the experience. 

We had a great time, our Genie was awesome! It was definitely worth what we paid for it, but at today's prices, I don't know if we'd be doing it again. But that's us.

 

I just looked at Sept 2025. 2 BR AquaTheater on Harmony is 2x for an 8 night, and a just a bit more than we paid for a 6 night. A 7 night on Oasis is ~3600. These are actually better prices than I've been seeing on other sailings on other ships, some of which were easily 4x what we paid for the same room.

 

So, if you'd like to do it, I'd suggest looking as soon as the cruises drop, so you'd be looking at 2 years out. The prices will never be cheaper. And be flexible on ship/departure port and date.