HBCcruiser

Thanks for the info! I have received emails and an itinerary update from Thor, the land based concierge. He said Vanessa should be contacting us soon via WhatsApp. I’ll definitely keep you posted. It’s funny, he seems really worried that we are doing an independent tour on the overnight day. Thor reminded me that the last tender is at midnight (I’ve heard 10:30 PM from FB peeps). I plan on eating dinner onboard after the tour so we’d be getting back onboard around 8:00. He did tell me to contact them if we are running late for some reason. We did joke that if the guys miss the last shuttle they can stay at Sandos Resort where we have stayed before! 😂😂

Ahhh so there are two people we will work with? Did you enjoy the Sky Suite? Any tips?

I decided to go with something to match the White and Gold Party. It’s hard to photo at night.

Time to get my nails done! I have work obligations tomorrow night so today is nail night. I’m still not sure what color to get. 🤔

I agree! I am hearing great things about Skylink on Royal Caribbean. Perhaps they should change providers.

So I just got a call from the land-based concierge, Thor, finalizing our dining plans and independent excursion plans in Cabo. He wants to make sure we get back onboard before the final tender. I told him that the tour would be done by 8:00 PM and that we would either return to the ship right away or grab dinner in the Marina. I'd rather eat onboard but the men may want to party in the Marina. Thor said that we should hear from Vanessa (I thought it was Mirella🤷‍♀️) via WhatsApp in a day or so to finalize the embarkation plans. Can't wait!

That would have been fun if you were on as well. I am glad to hear that about the internet. On FB folks have been reporting some issues with the Discovery so I guess we shall see.

Good to hear. Honestly, I’m a little nervous about it.

We have 3 days to go before the cruise. I have not received any confirmation email nor have we heard from "Mirella". I hope to hear within the next few days. If not, I am not that concerned. As long as we get onboard, I am good to go! 😎 🥂

Two weeks prior to our cruise the 2 door magnets we ordered arrived, but no medallions. I contacted Thor to see if we were supposed to pick them up at the port and if we should get them before meeting up with Mirella. He replied to me email in under 5 minutes showing our Medallion orders and showing that my BIL’s had arrived today and that ours had not shipped out yet, but that they would arrive the next week. Wow! Talk about great service! I wish I could send him a tip!!

Thor is wonderful and very responsive to emails and requests. We set up times for our balcony breakfast and dinner, went over our likes/dislikes, gave him the list of beverages and alcohol we preferred (you get 2 bottles of alcohol and free beer and mixers with this suite), reviewed our schedule and events we wanted to attend, made dinner reservations and more. He asked for information regarding our private excursion in Cabo and let us know that they would make sure we got back on the ship. Talk about service! He also informed us that he would send a confirmation email closer to the cruise as gave us the name of our onboard concierge, Mirella, who will contact us about a week prior to the cruise. Lastly, we set up a meeting time of 10:30 AM embarkation day when Mirella would meet us at the port to escort us onboard. The call took about an hour, so plan for that if you are working.

One Month Before the Cruise: We received a welcome email from Thor, the Sky Suite land-based Concierge one month before the cruise. He gave us an overview of the Sky Suite amenities and asked us to set up a time to discuss particulars, which we scheduled a few days later.

Well, I debated doing this LIVE thread for several reasons but thought that there might be some people out there who are considering booking the Sky Suite or who may want to know more about the experience. Also, I have heard that the Wi-Fi (or total lack thereof) is a total NIGHTMARE on this ship. How can that be? It is a new ship!! In this day and age having decent the Wi-Fi should be a given IMO. Where is Musk when you need him? I guess we shall see how it goes. I invite other passengers on this cruise to chime in along the way. The more the merrier I always say! I am starting this thread a bit early so you can ask me any questions up front. That way, I can try to answer them before the Wi-Fi goes bye-bye. We shall see how it goes. If you do not hear from me for a day or so once I board you know why. Itinerary Cruise 1 (Sky Suite): Nov. 5 – Board in LA (cell service but sometimes does not work well in LA port) Nov. 6 – Sea Day (probably no internet) Nov. 7 – Cabo (cell service) Nov. 8 – Cabo (cell service) Nov. 9 – Sea Day (no internet expected) Nov. 10 – Back in LA – Cruise #2 – No Sky Suite Nov. 11 – San Diego (cell service) Nov. 12 – Sea Day – (probably no internet) Nov. 13 – Ensenada – (cell service) Nov. 14 – Back to LA and work reality This cruise will be a B2B starting with a 5-day Cabo overnight in the Sky Suite with my DH and BIL, followed by me sailing solo for the first time (yikes!) in what started as a mini suite but due to a recent upgrade bid is now an S4 for a 4-day Comedy-themed California Coastal cruise. The first cruise was booked using FCCs from multiple COVID cancellations. My DH and I are limited to how many vacation days we get, and at the time we needed to use up our COVID FCCs by December 2022. This cruise plus an upcoming December ’22 CB Panama Canal cruise will use up all our FCCs. When I booked this cruise the price for the Sky Suite was not bad – especially compared to what NCL Haven Suites and Royal Caribbean Star Class suites sell for. The second leg was booked using my teacher discount. My awesome TA was able to combine some additional discounts making this cruise impossible to pass up. I booked a midship mini suite with the discount and did not have to pay the single supplement fee. Nice. With Veteran’s Day falling during this cruise, I did not have to use another vacation day. Two months before the cruise I decided to try out the new upgrade system and put lowish bids on a few categories of suites. Three weeks prior to the cruise I received the “Sorry, you did not win...” emails for all but one bid. Thirty minutes later I received the “Yay…” email for the S4. Super fun! DH and I love Cabo and have traveled there both by cruise ship and by air many times. My BIL has never been, so we plan on showing him some of our favorite haunts and doing one private excursion with him – a sunset sail where we will hopefully see some whales.

Let's just say knowing my DH it would have ended badly for that guy.

No. There is no Global Entry but customs is pretty fast.

Actually, Club Class is in the Coral dining room and it only takes up a small section. You should be able to book reservations in any dining room. During COVID some main dining rooms were closed due to several issues including lack of staff, the need for a larger staff dining area for social distancing, and lack of passengers.

Yes! Breakfast is offered in a specialty restaurant daily which is really nice. You can also eat in Club Class anytime it is open.

We were able to get a printed one. Ask your cabin attendant.

If you bid and won and paid for the cabin I highly doubt they would move you. I have never heard of that happening with the bidding process.

Actually once my bid was accepted they assigned me my new cabin number. Other cruise lines do not do that!

Yes. You will receive a voucher in your stateroom. You take the voucher to the store and you purchase your jacket with the voucher. The sizes run small so it is best to try them on. I really like mine though - nice and warm!

Thor the land-based concierge will help arrange it if they offer it on your cruise. He can also reserve the Sanctuary (if you want it).

Whoot-whoot! Congrats! 🥳

🙄 UGH!

I must say it is looking pretty good for you! Crossing my fingers. 🤞🤞