seadaisy

Yes, there was no problem stopping at Great Stirrup Key. By the way, it is a tender port but the sea was calm.

We were part of a group of 7 couples who cruise frequently and we chose the Sky because of the opportunity to visit Havana. The Sky is the oldest ship in the Norwegian fleet and is now used as a training ship for new crew members. We had a similar experience 10 years ago on the Majesty sailing from Charleston to Bermuda, also just a few days trip. The Sky is in pretty good shape, especially the public areas. We had a balcony stateroom on Deck 10 and it was pretty out-dated and tiny. The bathroom was miniscule. Overall the young crew members aboard were pleasant, nice-looking and professional in demeanor so Norwegian must use a very good selection process when hiring. The most obvious problem area lies in the kitchen. The food was quite poor in quality and taste. Food is a matter of personal preference but we found no one with nice things to say on this topic. As an example, we dined the last evening in LeBistro, having given up on the main dining rooms. I ordered the roasted shrimp with artichokes, it came with no artichokes and no flavor. The waiter did bring me a side dish of tiny diced artichoke which was hard as rocks. At $25 for this entree it was an awful failure. The pizza on deck 11 is good.

The bathroom water pressure was low, the water temperature varied during the course of a shower, and there were other faults. BUT we had the opportunity to see Havana and that was the eye-opener that made it worth the trip. There in Cuba time seems to have stopped in 1959 and I really recommend taking this cruise or some other means to go to Cuba and take a look for yourself.

The Lucerne town walk was really nice and took us to all we had on our list to see - very rewarding. I think it would be a shame to miss it, if you have the ability to do the walking involved. The Pilatus trip (purchase tickets at the booth on the lake) does not involve a lot of walking until the end. There is a boat trip on the lake to a small town, then the rackrailway up to the top (what an experience). We had lunch at the Pilatus-Kulm hotel at the top, then descended via gondola and cable car. The most walking happens then when you have to find the bus stop back to town. The total time was probably 5-6 hours.

I assume you are asking about Freiburg. We left the ship at the same time as the Black Forest group and returned at the same time. We left at 8:45 and returned at 12:30. The trip to Freiburg was much shorter than the Black Forest so we were in Freiburg from about 9:00 until shortly after noon. Our guide for this trip was from Freiburg and did a great job of walking us through the old town and center of town and giving us a real feel for the history of the place. It was charming.

Just returned from this cruise. It was fantastic! We added the Lucerne extension and did the Golden round trip to Mt Pilatus. Every day of this cruise was wonderful and the ship and crew were just outstanding! A great deal of thought and planning has been put into this by Viking. Please note: Viking listened to all the negative feedback they were getting about the Black Forest trip and added a free option to Freiburg...what a lovely and liveable city Freiburg turned out to be...one of my favorite places on the trip.

We will sail July 10th on the Viking Eir from Amsterdam to Basle. Happy cruising y'all!

We are sailing on the Eir July 10th and just received (via UPS) our documents and they appear to be straight from Viking.

Thanks for this info, Elise. Sounds enjoyable.

Hello, Elise. So happy you enjoyed this trip. We are doing the same one on the Eir in July. Would you share your opinion on the Black Forest excursion? (I have seen it described as not much more than a long bus ride). Thanks.

Thanks so much Elise...can't wait to hear more! We will be doing this trip come July.

Thank you for taking the time to do this nice review. We are doing the Oasis western itinerary April 13th and these reviews are so helpful. We are traveling with DS, DD, and 3 grandkids (their spring break week in Boston). Since we are retired we are elected to do the research for the group.