Martha1974

We’ve gone from green lane to blue lane in the app and any reference to arrival groups has disappeared. 

10 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Just to point out a positive … 

For the Plus and Premier package passengers, their added value is that they can eat at the GastroPub or O’Malleys, etc for no charge.  
Since there is currently no increase in price for the packages (and I’m not saying there won’t be), this is actually a good thing for those with packages unless you enjoy getting pizza every day.  
 

 

 

Fair point - we’re UK based and sail out of the UK so have only sailed on Sky Princess up to now, I had forgotten about O’Malleys and the GastroPub on other ships. 

So basically, if some of us are interpreting this correctly, Plus and Premier passengers continue to get exactly what they're getting at the moment (but probably with a related price-hike at some point) and standard passengers are losing several of the "perks" that Princess have been very vocal about publicising (no RS charges / ship-wide delivery / wider inclusive food choices). Can't wait till the debate about whether the changes apply to "old plus/premier" or just "new plus/premier" gets started. 

We're sailing in September and were planning on buying a couple of FCDs, but now I'm not so sure. 

3 hours ago, gah_cruise said:

why does it matter if you are blue or green when sailing from Southampton?..there are NO blue/green lines/queues/entrances.  UK passengers collect medallions at the port and if you have completed the necessary online documentation as required...then the time impact is 1 minute for the staff to walk and get your medallion and give it to you.

Didn’t even need to wait for someone to go and get our medallions when we sailed from Southampton last year. We were “green lane” - showed our passports, had security photos taken (we uploaded them but apparently they weren’t ok) and were given a slip of paper which we presented at the next desk and were provided with our medallions. Probably 6-8 minutes total from starting the process. 

The deck plan shows one port-side on Deck 9. I nearly missed it - looks like it might be a repurposed cabin between 9107 and 9115. Not thinking about booking either of those, but might be reconsidering if I was. 

12 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Yet in true Princess will be Princess fashion, just got an email today to make sure to choose our arrival times. 

We sail 16 Sept and I did ours yesterday - didn’t get and email to prompt but happened to be looking at the app and it let me do it. No QR code generated though (and we are Green Lane) so guessing the functionality just hasn’t been disabled yet. Got 11:30 group but might risk it and turn up earlier! 

12 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

 

We’re also on sky princess again in September and have this time booked sabatinis for the first time and looking forward to it after many recommendations, we were on sky in June this year as well but we down the Crown grill and chef’s table which both were lovely, so we have booked sabatinis twice this September and I’ve heard you need a empty tummy 😋

Definitely need an empty tummy - we bailed out before dessert last time  (another reason to give it another go to see what we missed!)  We did all 3 speciality dining options last year (when it was Bistro sue la Mer, before Catch by Rudi) and have booked all 3 again (Sabatinis getting a second chance, Crown Grill worth a second visit and want to try Rudi’s for the first time). Will try for the Chef’s Table when we board and if we’re lucky and get a place something else may have to give! 

Apologies if I’m repeating others’ comments as I’ve jumped to the end without reading all posts. We haven’t tried the new menu yet, our only experience of Sabatinis was last September on Sky Princess and it was mixed. The food was excellent and our waiter Matthew was wonderful, very friendly and helpful, but hopelessly over-worked! I don’t know how many tables he was looking after but it was too many! Our food service was very good - all courses presented promptly, hot and very fresh but the drinks service was a very different story. I ordered a glass of wine when we were seated but the wine I wanted wasn’t available so I accepted the alternative that was suggested. The amuse bouche, appetiser and primo were served and finished and the secondi was just delivered when I got my glass of wine, by which time I’d forgotten what I had ordered.
 

We’re sailing on Sky Princess again in September and have booked Sabatinis again to give them another chance - watch this space…!! 

Thank you for taking the time to post - I’m UK based and love reading reports from visitors to see my home country through other people’s eyes. Have a fantastic trip - weather reports are very variable for the next week or so, I hope that won’t impact on your enjoyment of the trip. If nothing else it will give you a conversation starter with any British person you meet (“ isn’t it warm / hot /sunny /windy /rainy” **substitute weather conditions as appropriate). Happy cruising 🛳️😁

Please could someone currently on board the Sky Princess let me know if there are any extra benefits when booking another cruise while on board at the moment? We’re looking to book a Canary Islands cruise for Nov 2025 (interior) and can get $100 pp OBC. That’s plenty of OBC for us as we book with the Plus package and aren’t big on shopping, spa treatments or using the sanctuary. We’re sailing on Sky in September and are trying to decide whether to book now and get the $100 OBC or wait and book when we’re on board if there might be more benefits. Any information will be gratefully received. 

On 6/26/2023 at 3:57 PM, Aulanis said:

LOL!   I did look at what we were paying and adjusted our expectations accordingly.

compared to our  P&O 14 day cruise Tenerife to Malta in March including flights it was expensive but in view of the hype  they give themselves  offering Great food Great Entertainment  Great Ports  thought paying the extra for a Premium service acceptable.

    Presumably  we now have to adjust our expectations  to the price the cruise is now  

so are  expected to accept Poor food  Poor Entertainment and  Poor Service.

Fortunately the ports will be whatever we make of them.

Sorry to be picky, but you quoted Yorkshirephil quoting me, and my comment was specifically in relation to people comparing Ambassador to Cunard and Silverseas - I think your comparison to P&O takes that comment out of context somewhat so I just wanted to clarify. 

We sailed from Tilbury and parking was very easy - booked as part of the cruise fare (but can be added on later) - can’t remember how much we paid but I think it was around £10-£15 per night. Luggage offloaded in the car park then a 2 minute walk across the road to the terminal 

Just now, Martha1974 said:

We sailed to Iceland in March in an aft cabin on Deck 10 and there was some movement but nothing that I would say was bad (I’ve had worse sailing through the Bay of Biscay). I do get mildly sea-sick but with patches behind my ear I had no symptoms going north or south 

Sorry, to be clear that was on Ambience - haven’t sailed on Ambition yet, but I’d say it will definitely depend on the itinerary. As @Britboys said, I understand that Ambassador have meds available at guest services but we packed some so didn’t need to ask for them 

We sailed to Iceland in March in an aft cabin on Deck 10 and there was some movement but nothing that I would say was bad (I’ve had worse sailing through the Bay of Biscay). I do get mildly sea-sick but with patches behind my ear I had no symptoms going north or south 

We’re really looking forward to sailing on Ambition after 2 cruises on Ambience (just booked for March 2025 😱). Having looked at the deck plans there seem to be a lot of differences but I quite like that the ships are different and will have their own character. We have no problem with the fact that they’re both “pre-loved” ships from other lines. We also sailed with CMV on the Marco Polo and Columbus and loved both of them (lights blue touch paper and retires)! 

Our two Ambassador cruises so far have had a shuttle where the town wasn’t in walking distance (Hamburg, Reykjavik and Invergordon) but my impression was that these were provided by the port authority / town rather than by Ambassador - there was no charge for any of them. All the others (Amsterdam, Kirkwall, Thorshavn) were well within walking distance (5-10 mins) so there was no shuttle. 

We’ve sailed Ambassador twice and have really enjoyed it. However I did also

hear people on one of those cruises making very unfavourable comparisons to Cunard, Regent and Silverseas. My response to that would be “look at what you’re paying and adjust your expectations accordingly”. We were very happy that we got very good food, very good entertainment and fantastic crew for the money we had paid and were very happy with our holiday (wouldn’t suggest for a minute that everything was perfect but any issues were rectified quickly) I haven’t sailed with Cunard so can’t say if that would be better or worse but for the fare we paid we were very happy (we paid much more for Sky Princess and in our opinion Ambassador knocked spots off that)

10 hours ago, tim_london0 said:

because, for me, sitting on the lido deck (or anywhere else) with glass in hand offers zero value.  Touring holidays (cruise or land based) is 100% about the destination, and the less time that there is doing "nothing" the better.  If the choice is 2-3 hours at the airport or 4 days on a ship, the plane wins hands down.

I totally understand, we’ve all got different priorities… if I could I through an airport and be in my seat on the plane in 30 mins I’d fly too. For you the drink on the lido deck is wasted time, for me it’s being stuck in a departure lounge getting stressed and anxious when I could be relaxing and starting to enjoy my holiday instead. However, the chance to holiday with friends is enough of a motivation for me to go through with it. Wouldn’t do for us all to be the same 🙂

Thanks both of you… looks like a couple of emergency sandwiches from the shop in Leeds Bradford might be in order so we can eat on the plane. 

We’re looking at booking an itinerary on Marella Explorer sailing out of Corfu and the flight from our nearest airport doesn’t land in Corfu until 20:30. Does anyone have experience of flying in so late, and if so could you give me an idea of what time we could expect to get to the ship (assuming no flight delays / luggage issues etc) and whether or not there is likely to be food available once we get on board? 
Thanks in advance for any information 🙂

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Typically only one per cruise.  It takes quite a bit of prep to set one up.

When we were on board last year we sat in Vines watching the crew “build” the waterfall… we were there for a good 30 mins and they weren’t finished by the time we had to leave for our dinner reservation. I think I probably found that more interesting than I would have found the champagne pouring part of the process. Will have to try and catch that part next time and compare the two 

Yes, you’re correct that Sabatini’s, The Catch by Rudi, Crown Grill and the Chef’s Table are all extra-charge restaurants.  In addition to the MDRs and buffet all the food offerings on the Lido deck (Slice pizza, Salty Dog Grill and Swirls ice cream) are included in your fare, as is Alfredo’s pizzeria and the food at the International Cafe. The only other extra-charge food options that I’m aware of are Gelato (in the Piazza) and the Sushi place (the name of which escapes me… Ocean Terrace possibly?)

All of the above is from memory based on our one experience on Sky Princess in Sept 22, but I’m sure if anything has changed someone with more recent experience can add an update. 

We have used CPS when sailing out of Mayflower and out of QEII and have been very happy both times (I would say 20-30 mins from joining the queue to getting the luggage out of the car). On both occasions there were 4 ships in Southampton, and I would agree with others that the biggest variable is traffic through town, although we have been pretty lucky that way too. 

On a side note (and I hope no-one else ever actually has to experience this), but in March 2022 when we weren't able to board at Mayflower (because my husband tested positive for Covid on the quayside) CPS had located the car in the car park and brought it back to the terminal faster than I could get out of terminal building to go and meet them.  A small thing, but at a very stressful time it made a big difference! I had visions of sitting waiting hours to get the car back. A gentleman in the same situation had parked off-site and they wouldn't/couldn't bring the car to him but nor could he get in a taxi because of his positive covid test. He ended up walking 2+ miles to the car park to retrieve his own vehicle. 

When we docked at Mayflower Terminal last September we were told self disembarkation would start at 07:30, but in reality it started earlier than that (approx 7:15 from memory) and we were in our car in the CPS car park by 07:30. 

I would say that, barring any other unforeseen circumstances you should be fine to make a 10:00am train, but would advise checking which terminal you arrive into as Mayflower is quite close, but the QEII and Ocean Terminals are at the other end of town. That way you can decide to have your leisurely breakfast and leave it a little later to disembark if you're at one of the closer terminals. 

I wish it was a memory for me too 😂 Not quite there yet, but not a million miles away!