No Sea Legs!

1 minute ago, arizonaperson said:

@No Sea Legs!

each ship varies slightly on the production shows times. I believe rock opera might be the first production show on formal night ,but again you’ll have to check the time prior to your dinner reservation if possible or whatever time you decide to dine. Most dinners in the dining room for two people at their own table,take anywhere from one hour to an hour and 45 minutes depending on if you tell the servers you’re in a hurry -sometimes that matters ,sometimes not. Some of the production shows are around 8 o’clock and then around 10 PM ,again it varies from ship to ship. 
Sometimes its better to plan your day the day before or the morning of and see what you want to do activity wise. There can be a lot of conflicts depending on what you feel like doing that day. If you don’t care about the champagne waterfall or seeing the captains speech, then you could schedule dinner at that time,so that you make it to the production show later in the evening .So many choices .

Hope you find out from somebody on the Sky Princess from now until when you cruise or just wing it and wait till you get onboard.

Thank you...I think we will be winging it! 

3 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

I just looked at a few live from’s.. From various ships. Here are the times for the champagne waterfall -approximately. Captains welcome aboard party and champagne waterfall in the Piazza 6:45 PM to 7:30 PM. On another ship, it says 6 PM to 6:45 PM and it says the  Captain will introduce the senior officers at 6:30pm.This usually takes place on the first formal night.

Basic, you can usually go pour champagne into the glasses with one of the officers and get your picture taken ,no obligation to purchase and then towards the end of the champagne photo opportunity,The captain introduces the officers. If you’ve never seen this before ,might be nice. You can make your dinner reservation for later that evening. Or just show up at the restaurant and wait to be seated or be seated right away if not busy.
I did not catch what ship you’re on or if you’re sailing after September 14, 2024, but there will be a new Dinning reservation system for those voyages. Also, you could get a better understanding of the menu for the first formal night, Patter( aka event/ newsletter )and the champagne waterfall schedule from your exact ship from somebody that does a Live from prior to your voyage.

Thank you, we will be on the Sky (August) Our priority is seeing the show, so we will want to be in the theatre for 7.30.

3 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

On the last cruise that I was on, the Patter shows that the ceremony (some quick speeches, recognitions and the Champagne pouring) was scheduled for 6:45-7:30.  I would say that is about right.  We had a dinner reservation for 7:20 so we bowed out at 7:15.

Thank you! 

Thank you all. What time is the champagne fountain...approx?

How do we navigate the evening? 

Thank you all, between the pair of us (both water drinkers) we will manage to keep the cabin stocked! 

Morning medication needs water

We have Princess Plus.

I would usually order water package for the room, not because I prefer bottled water but because I prefer the water to be really cold so I do not need to worry putting a glass of water in the fridge over night or disturb my husband running the tap until it is cold enough! 

1) Are we able to pick up bottled water 

2) Is it on the Princess Plus package - and how much- or is it unlimited? 

3) Is it worth buying the water package for convenience and excursions?

Thanks in advance.

Does the Plus Beverage package include bottled water that we can take back to our cabin rather than buying the 12 bottles in the specific water package? 

Thank you in advance. 

1 hour ago, Scottdalfonso said:

Thank you for this info! We actually sail just before the dining changes, Aug 31- Sept 7, but I may push the time back a little... I feel like 6 is still a little early for us, so maybe 630-7.  We were originally worried about evening shows and activities, but I was able to see a few posts with activities listed and looks like they do shows 2-3 times a night, so that's covered!  We will definitely do MDR, but now I'll at least know to look or ask to make sure I'm in the correct line. 

Glad you have a plan -  it can get a bit crazy when there are so many combinations and choices!

58 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

I see that you posted that you don’t know what time you are going to embark -that’s why I was asking in an earlier post what month,what year ,what ship, what port are you leaving out of? Probably will not involve your dining time, but others may be able to help you on the embarkation time ,if you let us know and if you prefer not to, that’s fine too. I’m guessing it is 4 pm. So if you get onboard anytime between 11 and 1 PM, you would watch the safety video ,check in with your medallion and go explore the ship or vice versa and then you could see where you might want to dine for dinner?
As far as physically exploring all your options for 1st night dinner,probably not necessary to do that??
Just keep in mind that the casual restaurants that are on your plus package -you cannot currently make reservations you just show up.
Now for specialty ( Crown Grill, Catch, Sabatini’s) you can make a reservation and you can usually just do that once you get onboard or through the app  prior to your cruise. You can also use the app when the time is right to make dining reservations in one of the main dining rooms or just show up at the time that you want to dine -yes you may have to wait a little bit. You may have to wait a little bit even if you have a reservation just part of the cruise waiting game ,but if I’m understanding correctly, you don’t want to do the buffet or the main dining room because it’s too crowded .I’m sure you could explore online the deck plans now if you have not already and see what your other choices are that would fit your culinary taste.

Happy cruising.

Thank you for all of your help. Really useful. We just need to decide if we want to queue with everyone else or book a speciality restaurant!

Thank you all very much. 

I have cruised before, so I know that the first evening in the buffet and MDR can be a little over whelming. At the time of writing, I do not know what time we embark, we may not have the luxury of having masses of time to 'physically' explore all of the options and then picking the right time before they are snapped up by others who are more organised than us.

Using one of the causal dining options is an excellent idea - thank you! 

I also aware that others may read this post for information, so I hope they find your advice useful. 

Thank you both, I am not surprised they have used every inch of space!

We have Aloha A414 (the last mini suite on that deck) midship - the exact place I wanted to be.

We are Port side.

We will be on a Norwegian cruise. 

Hints and tips are welcome. 

Thank you.

Thinking about when we arrive in port and sailing through interesting views, rather than looking sideways on, is there somewhere on the Sky Princess where there is a good view point facing forwards? 

On the Coral Princess we were able to stand on the Baja Deck, at the very front. 

Thank you.

Thank you all everyone for your very swift replies and suggestions.

Not knowing our embarkation time (yet) I am seeking suggestions/recommendations for first evening dining for Princess Plus Package. 

Assuming it will be quite busy, what will be on offer, is it best to go to the Fresh Market Place, or to book a speciality restaurant? 

Thanks in advance

I have to take a tablet before breakfast- like many people I find it annoying that I have to buy water for medical purposes.

However. 

We are not sailing from our 'home port' so we already have luggage restrictions with little time for supermarket shopping before embarkation, but we do have the opportunity to buy drinks at our ports of call. 

So, rather than buy the 12 x 1 litre bottles of Evian water, can I bring enough small bottles of any brand water I like on board for my morning tablet?

I recall on another ship of another line that there were small bottles of not so well known 'brands' of  water available at the the self service restaurant. Is this the same at the Windjammer? 

And on top of that can we also bring bottles or cans of drinks like Pepsi on board?

We are not big wine drinkers, but we do like a 'local' cherry brandy or similar in the evenings watching the world go by from our balcony,  can we bring that onboard? 

Thanks in advance. 

I strongly agree with the suggestion of using a local travel agent.

I agree, as they can sort everything out for you in advance and they have cruise experience and can advise you on the best options.

Thank you for your brilliant reply...morning drink is to get the system lubricated.

I am sure others appreciate your wise advice. :)

Forgive a few silly questions - drinks.

We have a classic drink package and I am sure that will cover our needs. When we cruised with Princess the 'ordinary' (non speciality) tea, coffee and hot chocolates were free as were fruit juices in the Horizon Court (self service buffet) What, if any, drinks are freely available, for no charge.

I saw a picture of a Celebrity cabin, and there was a kettle. Are there really kettles in the cabins, or do we have to use room service - we have a concierge class cabin.

Looking forward to a nice cup of tea on our balcony!

I like a glass of water in the morning, when we sailed with Princess we were told that no water could be taken on board so we bought the (very reasonable) water package so we had water in the cabins at all times. Can you take bottled water on board.

Thanks in advance.

Any recommendations/avoidances we need to know about for the Concierge Class Balcony Staterooms.

We are looking at Scandinavia & Russia, on this particular route does it matter if we are port or starboard?

Thanks in advance.

...out of curiosity, what are the laundry charges?

We have a week 'walking boot' type holiday before and after the cruise, so will have easy wash walking trousers (long & short) chinos (long and capri) plus an assortment of T shirts, long sleeve shirts and hoodies - we will be living out of a suitcase for 2 of the 3 weeks we are away. Plus waterproof jacket. My main concerns are:

1- Washing - what are the laundry facilities like?

2 - The formal evenings ....with limited luggage I do not want to waste 'weight' on items i will only wear once!

Thank you in advance.