Dr. Krystal Sodaitis welcomes Pippa from Ocean Time to share her Star Class experience on Quantum of the Seas.
This episode is sponsored by: Simply Inspired Travel
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What if you could board a cruise ship and never lift a finger for an entire week? No fighting for pool chairs, no waiting in line at the buffet, no struggling to get a reservation at the fancy steakhouse.
Welcome to Star Class on Royal Caribbean, where your Royal Genie (yes, that’s a real thing) makes sure you live your best cruise life.
Pippa from Ocean Time just got back from a Star Class sailing on Quantum of the Seas, and she’s here to spill all the secrets.
In this episode, she shares:
What a Royal Genie actually does (hint: it’s more than just booking dinner)
The best Star Class perks—from front-row theater seats to unlimited dining and drinks
Inside the Crown Loft Suite—two stories of pure cruise luxury
How to book Star Class for WAY less than you think
Dr. Krystal and Pippa also get into what makes a cruise truly feel luxurious—because it’s not just about fancy rooms and filet mignon. It’s about seamless, stress-free travel where everything is taken care of before you even think to ask.
If you’ve ever been curious about Star Class, envious of those purple SeaPass cards, or just looking for ways to upgrade your next cruise without spending a fortune, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.
Dr. Krystal Sodaitis is a board-certified pediatrician, healthcare executive, life coach for neurodiverse physicians, and the host of Luxury Cruising. With a passion for high-end travel, she helps listeners navigate the world of luxury cruising through practical advice, captivating stories, and expert interviews. Her goal is to inspire extraordinary travel experiences for everyone.
Website: luxurycruising.net
Email: luxurycruisingpodcast@gmail.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/krystalsodaitis
L C EP6 ===
[00:00:00] Welcome to luxury cruising. I'm really excited to have you all back. Um, and I have a massive treat for you today. I'm really, really excited. I've got Pippa here today, who is, um, I have been a long time follower of hers and of Ocean Time, and she's going to tell us about her experience on Quantum of the Seas sailing in the ocean.
Pippa, tell the audience all about you. Well, thank you. Um, just a bit of background. I actually used to work, uh, for Royal Caribbean Celebrity in the casino. I worked on board for eight years and absolutely loved it. Traveled the world. And now as a passenger. Going back on these cruise ships. I see the best of both worlds. You know, I really appreciate it I really enjoy my time and it's reminiscing of my 20s. Yeah To be able to cruise [00:01:00] star class. I've always wanted to Uh, the price was definitely right. And if you want me to talk about the pricing later, I'm more than happy to. Uh, it was a seven night cruise on Quantum of the Seas to the South Pacific out of Brisbane.
Um, at about a month beforehand, you get a survey where you fill out and put in all your information. Um, answer some interesting questions. They're just trying to get to know who you are as a person, I guess. and then two weeks out, your Royal Genie, which is your sort of, uh, butler, looks after you, your concierge, sort of, 24 7, they're your go to person, the Royal Genie.
And they reach out and just make sure if you need anything. So what's included in Star Class is, uh, the dining, uh, the , unlimited drinks package, the unlimited dining. the internet, [00:02:00] you have daily laundry service, which is just fantastic. And then you have the royal genie that will just sort of ~be, ~be at your beck and call, but they can do anything for you.
They make your dreams come true. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you know, just to mention, like, the laundry service, I think it's one of the, like, under appreciated perks because so many of us, like, we, like, if you want to travel with, like, just a carry on bag or you're worried, like, am I going to overpack? Am I going to underpack?
It's like, you know, you don't have to worry. You could basically bring, like, Three outfits and they just keep laundering them for you. I think it's, you know, you can really fill up your bag with mostly shoes and not have to worry about the clothes. I totally agree. Like when I talk about star class, that is top two of the, the, the bonus benefits from it.
I loved it. I took the clothes that I would never take on a [00:03:00] cruise because they would get too wrinkly and stuff like that. But it's like, hey, star class, I'm getting laundry daily. I could easily take amazing outfits. I loved it. Yeah. Oh yeah. ~That's, ~that's really good. ~It's sort, ~it's sort of like, you know, number one is my Starbucks being delivered.
In the morning and number two is the laundry service. Yeah, yeah. And then, like, even the cabin itself. Like, it's, uh, it was a grand loft suite Two, you know, two story, ~uh, ~two bathroom. ~the, ~it was at the back of the ship. And so you had the wake, huge balcony, just magnificent.
Fantastic. Fantastic. So what made you decide on this particular? Sailing and this particular room. So it actually came down to money. My friend reached out and she said, Look, there is a bargain. Um, there was three of us. It was 10, 000. So it actually worked out to be [00:04:00] only like just under 500 per person per day.
And I think for what you get. It is amazing. So we definitely jumped on it cause I don't see those prices, um, daily. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think also when we look at, , luxury cruising and people are sometimes. It's sticker shocked by the price, if you're getting a good, if you're getting a good price, you're, um, maybe you're booking it super early.
And then if you are someone who likes the ultimate dining package, if you are someone who likes to get a drink package, all of that is included. And the other part that I also factor in is on Royal Caribbean. You get double crown and anchor points. So I think like, okay, well, this is, let's say it's a seven day, like, what is another seven day going to cost me? So that cost also factors into my cost differential when I'm thinking about, you know, what kind [00:05:00] of a, what kind of a stateroom I'm going to, I'm going to book. Yep, yep, fair enough. And absolutely, if you're going to get the drinks package, the dining package, the internet, anyway, Like for Australia, that's like 100 for the drinks, 100 for the dining and say 50 for the internet daily.
You take that off the price, I was only paying like 250 ~for the, ~for the room and for the Royal Genie. Yes. That's amazing. Yes, and not to harp too much on Starbucks because ~I'm, I'm not a, ~I'm not a stockholder in Starbucks. But also, that is not included in your drink package. Normally, like, if you were to buy the drink package.
True, true. It's not included. So, that's just ~another added, ~another added perk. And then, like, ~we, ~when we got to the port, we ~Uh, ~went to ~like ~the land genie. They checked you straight in. They escorted you throughout the whole terminal. They hand you over to the Royal genie on board the ship. We went [00:06:00] straight to our cabin, ~you know, ~unpacked.
~Um, ~she took us. We went up to the Dodgem cars, bumper cars, and we went, you know, front of the line, went straight on to that experience that it's just those little things where, again, sort of money can't buy that, you know, it's sort of time saving ~and. ~She booked all our reservations for our restaurants.
We told her which shows we wanted to go to, where we wanted to seat in the theatre. Like, we turned up two minutes before the show started. Our drinks were on our seats. And we just watched the show. You know, that's a really interesting, so many things that you said were super interesting. Um, and the first thing I'm going to just say about the bumper cars is, here's a, just a tip in general, is if you are sailing a quantum class Royal Caribbean ship that has bumper cars, go the first day.
Because the lines are always shorter and people don't realize, right? It's sort of like, pack your bathing suit, the tips [00:07:00] I tell them, pack your bathing suit and your carry on baggage if you want to swim and go to the bumper cars. But don't forget, you can't bumper cars in your swimsuit. That's the only thing you need closed toe shoes for the bumper cars. One other tip I would give is go to Cafe 270 on day one for lunch. Don't go to the Windjammer unless you've got kids like mine who are like no, it has to be the Windjammer. But that's another story. Yeah, I would much rather do Cafe 270 for lunch that first day.
Yeah, totally. There are so many other options, right? For tips for anybody cruising at any time, right? And if you're a start class, you get, um, you should get chops. Well, Coastal Kitchen for lunch. Oh, yes, that's right, right. My favorite. People who have listened already know that. Coastal Kitchen is my favorite Royal Caribbean restaurant period. ~Yes. ~Yes. We, I went on, uh, did a junior suite and with the junior suite, you can go to Coastal Kitchen, but just ~for dining, uh, ~for dinner. ~And, uh, I took, ~I [00:08:00] went first, ~oh, I think ~on star class. And then I went on the junior suite ~with, ~with my husband and he is very big into chops and he was like, Oh, well, have we got a dining package?
And I went, no, no, no. We're Junior Suite, so we're going to Coastal Kitchen every night. And he was like, what? What about chops? I'm like, forget it. ~Yep. ~Yep. Yeah, me too. Like, I don't need a dining package. Like, ~if I'm in a, ~if I'm in a Junior Suite or above, I'm like, nope, I'm good with Coastal Kitchen. That's it.
So true. And with the Ultimate Dining Package with StarClass, you also get Chef's Table. So if you had, um, buying it just by itself, it's a certain price for Chef's Table. Even if you have, I think, the Unlimited Dining Package, it's still like a 20 or a 50 fee to add that. But StarClass, it's just included.
And then with StarClass, you also get The bridge tour, so that's included. Oh, cool. Yep. Unfortunately, we have, the North Star wasn't working at the time, so we couldn't, [00:09:00] um, utilize that. But that would have been an extra cost. Uh, iFly is an extra cost, but it's all included with StarClass. ~Amazing,~ amazing.
Interesting. I think in the U. S. and North America, iFly is included. I don't think, at least it wasn't the last time I did iFly. I've done it twice, it's been included both times. Yeah. Okay. So in Australia, if it's during a port day, it is free, but if it's a sea day, then there's a charge. Huh. Interesting. You know, depending on where you are in the world, there's going to be little nuances.
So I have a question for you about dining. Have you ever, um, dined in, , Central Park, Park 150. . There we go. One 50 Central Park. Yeah. So compare one 50 Central Park to Coastal Kitchen for me.
Okay. Um, now that you say that, I can kind of see similarities. So, and we've got nothing [00:10:00] like that in Australia because we don't have any Oasis class ships here. So I've only been to 150 Central Park once and that was in 2018. But my favorite was the salt, the eight different salts. Uh, that was just delicious.
But yeah I can see, you can say similar. Yeah. Cause I've never eaten there because every time I've looked at it, I've been like, Oh, this is like coastal kitchen. Like I'm good. Like, I don't need to, so I was just curious since we were talking about food. Yeah, I can, I can, I can see that. Sorry, now that you say that.
Good, I'm glad my instinct was right. So I just wanted to also point out something you said about the, um, having your seats saved in the theater. And what you said was so interesting, and that is that you told the genie where you wanted to sit. So I always just assumed that those were the seats that were reserved, and that's where you sit. It never even occurred to me to say, [00:11:00] no, I actually want to sit like, In the upper balcony, or I don't want to sit in the second row. I prefer to sit like five rows back. Right. And, and also the idea of having a drink waiting for me, like, yeah, that never occurred to me either. Amazing. A drink sometimes, you know, depending on the show, there's popcorn.
Um, but absolutely different. Um, Venues, you know, you choose where you want to sit. And some of them we would say to the genie, like they would know which is the best seat in the house, you know? Yeah. We personally, in the Royal Theater, we wanted to be down the front. So we had front row, uh, when we were in 2 70, the theater there, it was sort of in the middle.
Yeah, you've got to be middle of middle at 270, yeah. Yeah. But again, the Royal Genie knows everything and knows everyone and they'll obviously give your best, their best answers and [00:12:00] stuff. So it's great. Yeah. ~Yeah. Amazing. ~Amazing. So what about, um, anything, tell us about your crown loft suite and what were some of the luxurious features about the stateroom? Yep. So they had sort of a dining table ~in, in the, ~in the loft suite, but they also had a table out on the balcony so you could have ~food. You can have restaurants ~food delivered to your room. ~So you can stay in for that night. ~Not that we ever did, but what we would do is, ~um, ~at the end, sort of day six and ~day six, ~day seven, we had lunch delivered to our room.
So any restaurant we liked, we pre ordered and at 12 midday ding dong, and they brought what we wanted. And that was also nice. We ~did that ~pre ordered. ~Um, ~for Jamie's Italian because we wanted to do something after and we just wanted to save time. So we pre ordered and then we turned up to the restaurant and they already had what we wanted.
So that was ~really nice. Yeah, not even in your room. It was just like. Yeah, that's ~really nice. Yeah, it was very seamless. It was like, [00:13:00] gee, I'd like to go to every restaurant and already you've ordered, you know? Yeah, that was good. Um, ~with ~the amenities were great, ~um, ~shampoo, conditioner compared to, you know, in the other state rooms.
Um, they have the fully stocked, um, fridge, ~which ~And you can order any drinks you want to be put in that fridge, and I'm not a coffee drinker, but they have a coffee machine, coffee pots, there as well. Um, the most difficult thing was though, the curtains. So they have, you know, those sheer ones that you kind of can see through, but people can't see you and then they have the fully sort of, full curtains and I had to get a tutorial on how to open and close each set of curtains.
So I got there in the end. Yeah. Yeah. Like press this button, but not that button. And you know, otherwise. ~And the crown.~ Recorded it, so I know how to do it. I'm an expert now. [00:14:00] Um, you can invite me anytime into your loft suites to do your curtains. And the crown loft suite, is that the one that's got like the giant window in front where you can just See everything.
It's two story, obviously, because it's crown loft. Yeah. So you, you walk in and either side, um, depending on what cabin you're in, uh, there's a bathroom and then you go, there's a bathroom on one side, stairs on the other, you go further on, you have your dining table is a huge lounge that can turn into a king size bed, TV.
Um, like I said, your fridge, then you go out into your balcony, you have some deck chairs, lounge chairs, your table, and then, like I said, you're looking at the aft, the wake of the ship, it's beautiful, and then the two story windows. You go upstairs, you have a king size bed, you have closet space galore. Four doors [00:15:00] and then a huge bathroom. I always find it, cause we were talking about the laundry. I always just find it so amusing that you have all that closet space. And I'm like, I don't need to bring this many clothes. Yes. I want to talk about these. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, yeah, the coveted purple CPASS card. And yeah, the Do they still have Are they still using, um Wildlands? Wildlands, yeah, for StarClass? So, I didn't realize And I guess you don't until you stay in it, though. So that's your CPAS card, it's that, yeah, purple. And the staff can see it, if you're wearing the lanyard.
I don't wear lanyards. I'm happy to wear the WOW band, and it works really well. And ~The, the, ~the crew and staff know, can see straight away that you're star class and they do give you a little bit of extra attention, which is nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that's also part of luxury. It's like that, that extra service, right?
Like having your genie, have your, [00:16:00] Drink already at your seat when you get there, like, that's just a higher level of service. Any other like areas of the service that you really could tell was, I don't know if I should say. So, we told our genie, like, do not do what she did, but she did it. So we wanted to have a sort of a morning in the solarium.
And we said, we'll go there at about nine or, you know, and find a place to set up and have a swim and chill out. And she went up there at six in the morning and like, put out her stuff and so like saved us a seat. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, you shouldn't have done that. But like, that was really nice of her.
~Yeah, ~yeah, because ~you, ~it's hard to beat those, especially if it's a C Day, ~it's, ~it's hard to beat those people who get out at like ~536 ~a. m. to mark out their spot. So if your genie's willing to do that, like, yeah, nice. ~Lesser. Yeah. ~Especially because these days the solarium, I don't [00:17:00] know if on quantum at the time, but you know, they've got those big cushy sort of like, they look like genie in a bottle.
~I don't know. There's probably, yeah. ~Yeah. Those are so nice. ~I love those. ~I love those. How about, um, ~in the, like ~in the ports, ~anything, ~did you do anything specifically luxurious in the ports? ~Um, and was there anything. ~So, when we were in New Mea. ~Uh, ~we stayed on board the ship because we wanted to really utilize the ship itself, you know, just hang out and embrace all of the star class.
~Um, ~on Quantum, ~the star, what is it? ~The suite deck. For outside is at the back overlooking the swimming pool. There's not much on that ~sweet ~deck, so it's not really utilized that much. ~Um, ~but mystery island, we got off and I paid extra for a beach hut and you get drinks and some snacks and massage and it's right on the beach.
And so that was, that was the highlight as well. Nice. [00:18:00] And was that a Royal Caribbean excursion or did you do that through a private vendor? No, it's just, it's just by itself. Nice. And so what was that excursion just in case people want them? So this was Mystery Island. Yeah, so you can walk around the island in about 40 minutes and they have eight beach huts on the island and, uh, yeah.
You can just hire out a beach hut for, they do a morning session and an afternoon session. I always do the afternoon session so I don't have to rush off and yeah ~it's, ~it's great. Oh, that sounds really, really amazing. That sounds so good. And it was, you said it was a seven day. Where else did you go on the seven day?
And uh, Port Vila. I don't know. I can't remember what I did in Port Vila. We've done these ports. So in Australia, if you go to the South Pacific, it's Noumea, New Caledonia, Mystery Island, and Port Vila, Vanuatu. They're basically Yeah, it's like, it's like a Southern, it's like a Eastern Caribbean cruise here.
Western Caribbean. It's [00:19:00] like the same ports. Um, except like, for us, we're like, the South Pacific, like better watch you. Like, I know it's a survivor, like, know a bit of watch you. Well, I'd love to. I was booked on a Fijian cruise, but there was a cyclone and I never got there, but I will get there. Yeah, hopefully.
So if you had to sum up your StarClass experience on this cruise, what would it be?
That if you can do it, I would definitely do it again, ~if, ~if all the stars aligned, ~like I said, if you're happy to, um, ~like I said, get ~the, ~the points to go to Coastal Kitchen to have the unlimited dining package, ~like I said, ~we do that dining package a lot, not the ultimate, but at least ~three, ~three at least per cruise, three nights, ~um, um, ~The shows, what I think a benefit also was for myself was that I'd been on Quantum of the Seas.
~I don't know, ~at least probably eight times before that. And it was also nice leading into it. ~Uh, ~I was on the ship a month before the [00:20:00] star class and I was going around and just introducing myself and saying, Oh, I'm going to be back next month in star class, you know? So I sort of started to get kind of a little bit of special sort of service beforehand, you know?
~Yeah. Yeah. ~Yeah. Really just sort of like primed the crew to be like, look for me. Yeah. Amazing. So let's just, I asked a couple of questions of, of all of the guests stepping away from this particular cruise. How do you define luxury?
I was going to say having someone else organize it, but I love organizing it, but just being preemptive, like just knowing that. I'm going to want a certain item or a thing or, um, being it personalized to me. So that sort of, you know, welcome back Pippa, you know, that kind of luxury that just meaningful and memorable, uh, situation.
I get it. Do you think that this trip met that expectation for you? Yes. Nice. Yeah. I love it. That's good. That's awesome. Do you [00:21:00] have any other luxurious travel planned in the near future? Cruise or otherwise? Oh, I'm always looking. Um, my next cruise, I'm in a junior suite on ovation, so, and that's nine nights.
What I will say with the star class, it was seven nights. I would have absolutely loved if it was just one more night. I find sort of eight nights, it's just. You know, you don't have to start packing as, as soon. Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm really looking forward to my next cruise, nine nights in a junior suite.
Well, it's a guaranteed junior suite, so who knows, I might get lucky and I might get something more. Yeah. And you might get what they call, um, now they have some of their, that are like this, you might get a sky junior, um, and that gives you actually sky class. Benefits, right? That would be nice. What is your dream cruise? Any dream cruises? Um, well, I came back, I did Icon in April [00:22:00] and I was blown away with that ship. I loved it. Um, as far as destinations, because of working on board for eight years, it's really hard for me to not be biased in regards to, I love Key West. But I love it because of the memories I have from Key West.
I did a year out of Miami to the Bahamas, three and four night cruises for a year. Um, Coco Cay, I've been to over 50 times. It's changed a lot. Yeah. Um, but anywhere in the Caribbean, ~I, ~I love the Caribbean. Yeah. Again, it's the memories. Yeah. So just your dream cruise is just maybe going back to relive ~those, ~those fond memories of when you were working on the ship. True, yeah. That's nice. I love that. I love that. Well, this has been so, so much fun. Please, you know, I know you have so much content, tell people where, you know, they can follow you. I know you've got group cruises, if they want to cruise with [00:23:00] you, um, tell us all the links. Yeah, absolutely. So they can find me on Facebook, Oceantime.
Um, I also have a website, www. oceantime. com. au, and that is correct. I do have group cruises this, November. on quantum nine nights to the South Pacific. Then we have 17 nights on Anthem of the Seas going from Hawaii to Sydney. Amazing. We also have then a New Year's cruise and I don't know if you've cruised New Year's, but I absolutely love it.
Everything is taken care of for you for that New Year's Eve party. Um, and that's ~It's ~actually in December 2025 on Voyager out of Brisbane. So if anyone wants to come on Down Under, uh, we're all available. Yeah. That sounds amazing. And Anthem, personally, is my favorite. I've been on all the new ones.
Like, I just, I haven't been on Utopia yet, but I've been on [00:24:00] everyone up until I want to say Harmony and Anthem is one of my absolute, if not my absolute favorite. And a lot of it is the memories, right, that were created on Anthem, but I love Anthem. So big plug for that. 14, did you say 17 days? Yes, so Hawaii to Sydney, and that's like so many sea days, and this is a huge tip, I think.
Cruising that way, over the international date line, you gain an hour. Five days in a row you gain an hour every day. So whether that means you can stay up an extra hour or you can sleep in an extra hour. Also being from Australia, I can fly to Hawaii. I can stay there for a week, do some shopping and then get on board the ship.
And I don't have to worry about excess luggage. So I am excited. That is a luxury vacation. That sounds amazing. Oh, and that's it. And I get to cruise home.. [00:25:00] That's in the part two, right? Like you don't have a long, you know, 17 hour plane ride after the cruise. It's so hard to get on that plane after the cruise because I don't live in a cruise port.
And that job is just tough. It is tough. Well, thank you again. It's, this has been fantastic. Awesome.