h-sar

Just now, Northern Light said:

Thank you h-sar for your kindess in taking photos of the chairs.  Unfortunately they tell me that I will never get DH on this particular ship. It is what it is.  Thanks again and have a Happy New Year.

 

Sandy

So sorry to hear that.

Just now, voljeep said:

this

👍🏼

On 12/29/2019 at 2:51 PM, dkitty said:

the above snacks look incredible!  Are you doing a tour in St Martin?  I have a Bernards tour schedule, not sure if I should keep it it not .  Thanks for all your posts.

(oops, found this post in my drafts file. Not sure if it originally got posted or not.)

We’ve done a few tours in Saint Martin already, so the last few times, have gone to Orient beach, by the Bikini beach bar. We actually managed to reserve, a couple months back, loungers right in the first row by the water. Discovered last year when we were there that one could do this. No extra charge for this other than the cost of the chairs. And PS, in case you’re wondering, this is not the clothing optional side LOL. That’s on the other side of the beach.

If you have not done a tour there before, you should really do it at least once. My stipulation with the family is that the first time we are on an island, we must do a historical/cultural tour; after that, the kids can pick a beach. The social teacher in me, I guess 😄.

Just now, Northern Light said:

I have a question about the chairs in the Marketplace.   From the photos, they all look the same.   When we were on the CB recently the did have those chairs but also another choice.  The back was more solid down to the seat with just a vertical cutout in middle.   Are there any on the Sky like this?  Thanks for posting all the pictures and the comments of life onboard.

Sandy 

Doing my pre-dinner sampling of food in the buffet and took a few pictures for you LOL. The sacrifices I make, ha ha.

First picture shows the chairs in the world fresh market place which is towards the back of the ship. they have solid backs  at the top and two or three different patterned cushions.

picture  2 shows the chairs in the Horizon bistro with vertical slats at the top.

Picture three shows the high chairs at the high tables in the bistro area.

I do not see any other styles.

Here are a few pictures I just took of some of the fancier items that have been put out for the New Year’s Eve dinner buffet. I really hope that the sky does what the regal has done the last few years, and have a midnight buffet of cool appetizers. Not that I really need more food, LOL.

of course, there is a lot more food out in the buffet than what I posted. 
 

just saw the buffet sous chef and he said there will be a midnight buffet from 1130 to 1:00 in the bistro side.

Got back on the ship around 3:30 in the middle of a downpour, which thankfully only lost a few minutes each. Rest of the family decided to do some shopping by the port.
 

Figured I would use this opportunity to investigate the location of the escape room. The location was not easy to find and managed to escape me the first couple of rounds I made on 18 after having checked the princess website plans for the sky. It looks like it should be just adjacent to the basketball court, but I went around in circles not seeing anything.

Finally ended up in the kids’ club, hence the picture of the teen numbers below,  and asked one of the workers there. She told me that I had to actually walk through the basketball court. Doing that and walking twice through the smoking section on this quest, I made two sacrifices for y’all. 😄. There were actually quite a few people smoking at the back of 17 today. I took a picture for anyone who might be interested, but did not want to get too close and violate people’s privacy. So, not the best picture.
 

The picture below of the bball Court, with the colourful wall, shows a door to the far right which apparently is the escape room. Is labelled Experience Room. Will try to get more information from someone in the know later.

When I came back at 3:30 PM, here’s what was available for food. And this would be typical of any day:
 

International café

poolside pizza

salty dog

Horizon bistro which had fruit, many salads, soups, self-serve fresh sandwich making station with different breads, cheeses, and meats. A carving station, rotisserie chicken. As well, fixings for tacos, nachos, and fajitas. The fajita mixes are actually very good. There is fresh guacamole, corn salsa, tomato salsa, and all the condiments. The pulled pork Carnitas are very, very good.
 

The World Fresh market place is closed for about three hours or thereabouts between lunch and dinner. Looks like they are putting together a really nice spread for New Year’s in the marketplace.
 

So, one will not starve when coming back from Port, contrary to what many people say when they see that part of the buffet is closed pre-dinner. They don’t tend to acknowledge all the other places that have food available.

pic 2 is smoking section

did not get a picture of the number of kids in the preteen club. Will try later. I would expect there were probably more kids in the Christmas cruise. I have to say all the kids have been very well behaved these two weeks. Good job, parents!

Second last picture shows the new staircase going from 16 to 17. On the regal, it was extremely narrow, almost dangerous. On the sky, it is a double staircase converging into one, all of it extremely wide all the way down. Might have mentioned this in a previous post, but cannot remember.

last picture shows the water station at the very back of the buffet in the outside area by the Wakeview pool. This is the best place to fill up water bottles conveniently. Of course, please do not put the mouth of your bottle against the tap, but use a glass instead.

Just now, Pedro's Girl said:

Thanks! Possible Plan B.

are you talking about the ones that are just above the retreat pool, outside of the sanctuary? If so, I think I discussed it in an earlier post. I checked and they were $80 for the full day and $50. for the half day. I think you might have an easier bet with those than the sanctuary booking, but I would still do it immediately upon boarding. There’s room for two full padded loungers in the cabanas. 

Post 244 re beach fees

Kids said coconut shrimp was excellent! I found the nachos just ok. Chocolate ice cream was great. The burger is fantastic as well.

Just now, whitecap said:

Open to the public means to me, that anyone can go there but it doesn't explain whether or not there is a charge once you get there.  

No charge. The umbrellas and chairs by the resort are only rented to resort guests for the most part, but there’s a dive shop further down that rents to everyone. 
$30 for paddle board rental for half hr. No motorized rentals, thankfully. Definitely the kind of place you want to come to early in the day as it’s really busy now with resort and cruise people. I’m glad we got here when we did 

Just now, baronessk said:

First day onboard I was at the service desk getting my DM's Medallion changed from Blue to Platinum, and a man next to me was going on and on and on about how he had raced to the Sanctuary, but nothing available as all the B2B cruisers had already booked them.  He was not happy.

we checked yesterday, and no one has cancelled so we will most likely not get in. Should have tried to book last week for this leg, but maybe it was just not a priority for us, otherwise we would’ve run down the first day of the first leg. Just had a lot of things to take care of immediately upon embarkation, such as checking out dining room table for the group, making specialty dining reservations, doing the enclave booking etc. This one got forgotten, but definitely something to try again next year.

Just now, Colo Cruiser said:

Beautiful......

What was the cost of this place? Day pass? Open to the public? How much for the taxi?

Set rate of $10 pp each way. Open to public even though there’s a condo resort right here. The tenting structure over the restaurant kept us dry with the intermittent showers. Takes about 25 minutes from the port to get here. Lots of taxis in the parking lot for the return trip, so, you do not have to book them. here are a few more pictures if anybody is considering coming here in the future. Water is pretty calm, unlike Magen’s Bay sometimes,, so good for little kids. I know they also do paddle board rentals. Only issue might be if you are looking for a really huge deep beach.

We went to Secret Harbour Beach (an old favourite we hadn’t been to in a while). Small enclosed area, beautiful water, but the beach itself is not the deep. They lost a lot of it in one of the hurricanes back a few yrs ago. Great restaurant (Sunset Grille) with awesome food and really fast wifi. Amazing coconut shrimp which the kids are always on the hunt for. Been getting island showers off and on since we got off the ship. It’s been nice for cooling things off. Very hot here, as always. 
 

Last night’s dinner. Repeat menu of last week with a couple of minor changes. Sunil was sick so we had a a substitute for the night. She was very quick and efficient (had only two tables as some seemed to be eating elsewhere tonight) and we were out in under 90 min which meant we could make some of the shows that were going on. 
 

The featured pasta was tagliatelle in a pesto sauce. We had a starter size. AMAZING. 
Field green salad with goat cheese - very good.

Medallion in cognac sauce. Also very good. They’ve been cooking the beef about one level higher than requested on most nights (eg. med well when med rare was asked for). Tonight, we’ll ask for a level down than desired and see what happens. 
 

Duck a l’orange. Was brought by mistake and left for us to try. Decided after the two duck attempts that we are definitely NOT duck people! But, what better way to find out than on a cruise ship where you get a chance to try new things. I highly recommend, if you’ve got a group, to order at least one thing for the table that everyone can try out. Forgot to mention that, as per the norm, you can only order one item from each section of the menu in the specialty restaurants. However, in CG. they will let you order your two starters from the same section if you didn’t find something of interest in both sections. 
 

BBQ chicken from the every day menu (sauce seems to change up for the chicken). DH really liked it. 
 

Bananas foster

Profiterole with coconut ice cream - yummy! They should really put this on the every day menu as it seems to appear everyday with a different ice cream and or sauce. 
 

Chocolate Journeys, hazelnut dessert. 
Has anyone seen the Norman Love coconut one (it’s round and whiteish)? Haven’t had it in the last two yrs.One of our all time favourites, land or sea. 

Here’s a pic of Vines this morning as I came back from the Enclave, for the poster who was asking about it. Also a pic of the deck 5 shop Celebrations, selling chocolate, booze, cigarettes, Tortuga rum cake (pretty similar price to ports, so just buy it on-board). 

Love St. Thomas. Hate the lizard like creatures that have infiltrated the place. Will stick to my usual survival technique: if I don’t make eye contact, they don’t exist. 
 

Anyone know why St. Thomas seems to have more iguanas (at least from what I’ve seen) than the other ports? 

Remember the issue I had with the hydraulic something something mechanism that turned on the jets in the aromatherapy pool in the Enclave last week? They would sometimes take a few minutes to reset for me to be able to turn them back on. Sometimes 3 long minutes. And that I’d gone to the desk and one of the ladies told me it’s just how the hydraulic something something works on this ship. So, after about 5 days of this frustration,  found out that you have to push the button twice - short and quick. Works like a charm. One guess as to where I got that info, cause it certainly wasn’t at the desk. Winner gets a beautiful  harbour pic of St. Thomas where we just pulled in a few min ago. 

Went to the Marriage Match game show in Vista last night at 9:30. Was wall-to-wall people, Standing room only. Was a hoot. They had the typical older couple, married for 50 years, who I’m sure were fed a lot of the funny answers beforehand; and if not, they were freaking hilarious! A couple married 25 years (whose teen kids were in the audience and it got a little awkward with at least one of the questions asked😆). and a couple married a few years.

Later, stuck around for the Frisky Feud R rated game show. Take off on the Family Feud with people in the audience volunteering to make up the teams; definitely got a bit raunchy. If you zoom in, you can see the first question. It, too, was jampacked. Best to get there early if you want to sit down. We had to stand for both shows. The backdrops and hosting by CD Adam were quite professionally done. 
 

Pictures from both shows as well as from the princess live bar area and where the bands and necklaces for the medallion are sold.

On 12/24/2019 at 9:11 AM, GOODIES said:

Please find out what the obstruction is for deck e 410

 

we board in Feb

thanks

As was mentioned earlier, you’ll be looking down into Le Mer’s outdoor seating. No one is EVER there. 
 

pic 1 shows the restaurant right below your cabin, a deck down from you 

pic 2 is a view from the restaurant’s outdoor seating to your deck 

pic 3 shows the seating outside the restaurant that you’d see from above 

pic 4 shows what you’ll see from your balcony (of course, my view is from much higher as I’m on 16 at the skyview walk.)

Just now, ecs66 said:

Interest to know.  Have seen "Escape Room" mentioned.  What is that?

Funny, the kids were just talking about it over dinner today. You don’t hear too much about it on the ship itself, but rather more on cruise critic. Apparently, it is sold out for the rest of the cruise. It is supposed to be on deck 18. I will try to see if I can get a picture. The princess website says some of it is digitally-based and there are over 700 possible solutions. Will try to get more info next sea day. It’s called Phantom Bridges. Apt name as no one’s even mentioned it on board 🤣. 

Just now, ecs66 said:

Ha ha!  Informative, though.  We appreciate it!

 

What used to be the Horizon Court -- the buffet -- now is the International Cafe (I believe).

Then I saw a sign that said "Horizon Bistro".  What is that?

The International cafe is actually on deck 5 and has Specialty coffees and teas, as well as an assorted selection of pastries, donuts, and breakfast sandwiches in the morning, and then various desserts, quiches, salads, and sandwiches, including hot paninis,  the rest of the day. It is open pretty much 24 hours a day. It has a bit of a cult like following by Princess lovers, including me, here on cruise critic.

The Horizon Court is divided on the Sky into the World Fresh market place which is about 2/3’s of the back of the buffet and holds the majority of the entree dishes. The Horizon Bistro is the front 1/3 of the buffet and includes the pastry shop. I would say that the food in the bistro is more deli like during certain times of the day. at breakfast, it just has a smaller sampling of the items available in the larger backside of the buffet. 

Just now, #55worktoplay said:

Late to the party.
 

First, thanks for sharing your trip. I have not sailed Princess but definitely on the agenda. The food pictures you are sharing may just push me over the edge.  The decorations are lovely.

 

 

Always room at the table for latecomers🙂. 
 

I’m glad that the Christmas decorations will up for this leg as well. Really adds a lovely, festive air. Been sailing during the Christmas break for so long that I can’t imagine sailing without Christmas decorations! 
 

Yes, the food on Princess is a definite draw for us. There've been a few misses this trip, but minor compared to all the great food we’ve had. Food is a huge factor in all my vacation planning and there’s a reason we keep coming back to Princess. 

Just now, sawtooth said:

Is there a Vines Wine Bar on the Sky?

Yes; Exactly the same as on Regal and Royal on 5. 

Lunch at Alfredo’s. Pretty sure my husband needs to join a seven step program for his addiction to these Calzones. 

My desserts from Intl Cafe 

Views from the Wakeview pool area on 16 and a pic of the corner aft deck 15 balcony. One day...

It turned out to be a pretty great day, given that the water is somewhat choppy and there was a bit of wind this afternoon. Sun was out, though, and that’s all that counted. Man, it was exhausting with the non-stop eating all day and lounging about in a deck chair.  Feel like I need a nap. 😁

Enjoying some quiet time by myself right now on our balcony. Between bouts of salty dog fries, chicken tacos that are still failing to live up to expectations, some grilled veggies from Horizon, I went to Alfredo’s with DH where he had a calzone made with chicken instead of ham and I had the Magro salad and the eggplant pasta dish. Everything was delicious, as always. Service up there around 1 PM was pretty quick and efficient. Had we come a bit earlier, I think it would’ve been much busier. Still have not seen them seating anyone outside, even when they are very busy inside. The afternoon movie today was Grease, the original, and Aladdin with Will Smith is currently playing. DD and I did afternoon tea in the deck six dining room (location has changed about three times these past two weeks due to certain events going on.) They had it every day last week and confirmed today that they will this week as well. 

Went into the casino for a few minutes for a walk-through late last night. It was wall-to-wall people, jampacked. I imagine it is like this most nights, but we really don’t go in there other than one or two walk-throughs during a cruise. Smoke was actually not too bad at all and I am hypersensitive to smoke. One thing I love about princess is that they do a fantastic job of keeping the smoke contained to certain parts of the ship. Beyond Churchill’s and the casino, the only other place with smoking is the very back of deck 17 just above the wakeview pool area. I walked through the Smoking section today and it was pretty busy, but there was very little smoking going on. Anytime I have been at the back of 16, just below it, I don’t smell any smoke either. The nice thing about the smoking area is that is kind of closed off from the left and the right sides of the ship.
 

We went to Sabatini’s last night and I don’t think we will be repeating the experience on future cruises. The menu just does not do it for us. But, of course, taste is subjective and I’m sure there are people who absolutely love the menu. The complimentary hors d’oeuvres of freshly  fried pastry dough, prosciutto, and rolls was very very good. The tomato and bell pepper sauce was delicious. My risotto was good, not great, and my Sole Piccata main was very oily - almost like it had been pan fried in cold oil. I only ate about a third of it. All of our dishes came out barely lukewarm and we should have said something but did not. In fact, my veggies were cold. Very surprising given that each dish is made per order. DD didn’t really enjoy her pork tenderloin, but that is just a preference thing on her part. I’m sure others would quite enjoy it. The veal Marsala was also just good, not great. We all had the gran Padana soup. Kind of reminded me of whipping cream that’s been liquified a bit and small mushroom bits added in. It was delicious, but being lukewarm really took away from the full enjoyment. Had we been hungrier or less tired, I probably would have said something to our server, so can’t really complain now. DD really enjoyed her carbonara. The Earl Grey Bigelow tea was fantastic and the dessert sampler we had was beyond amazing. 
 

Wait, did I just seriously forget about the burrata?! Food from the gods. Let me take back what I said earlier. I think I would go back just for the burrata,  the deep-fried pastry, and the dessert. Yup, definitely would. 

Picture with the three little pots, which actually weren’t that small, was my son’s pasta dish. It had a small serving of lasagna, chicken Parmesan, and baked ziti. The two first dishes were sort of a deconstructed version. He said he really enjoyed the ziti, but the rest were just OK. The out of focus picture is my fish, followed by the veal Marsala, and the pork tenderloin. And the best for last, the desert sampler, with all four desserts. I would definitely recommend getting a sampler. If there is one thing you do not care for in the sampler, I’m sure they would give you double of something else that you would rather have instead.