nini

Thank you for your reply. I had a feeling that it was the company everyone liked that is no longer.

@rocklinmom Where did you need to be to get on the Princess transfer? Was it a convenient walk from the Sofitel? Thanks

FYI- During hours of operation, The Catch was always roped off when we were on the Sky last June.

I have been reading quite a few posts regarding the Emerald. Hopefully, things have changed.

I also really like their "Traditional" Mai Tais.

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. We have always experienced good cabin stewards except one on the Sky last June. Everything else about the Sky was fantastic! Current reports are not reflecting well on the Sky. I hope that improves soon.

Please know that the only "on the negative" side experience we have had with Princess was on the Emerald in May 2022. The crew was grumpy, one snapped at us, and overall non-dazzling personalities. We did tip our steward a bit extra though. The Grand in September 2022 restored our faith as did the Sky (crazy, right?) in June 2023. Both were fabulous!

Good to know!!!

We have been through this before. We can definitely agree that it may not be wise to choose a cruise line by a "One and Done". This had been our 2nd cruise with Celebrity and we were shocked. Our experiences are all different. I posted my example to indicate to the OP that possible a "One and Done" may not be of benefit in this case.

I have also been told about the Moxy in Southampton and agree that it would be a nice choice. We can vouch for a very big NO for the White Star Tavern!

@skynight Would you mind telling us with who your private transfer was with? Ours seemed expensive this past June. Thanks.

@john watson Thank you so much for your correction. I trust the OP will see this as well.

Thanks for sharing. I am looking forward to more of your report.

We have taken the Princess transfer from Victoria Station, however, this is only available the day of boarding the ship. We just took a cab from our hotel to Victoria Station and it worked well. By the time we arrived, we basically just boarded immediately because we arrived about 1:00 pm. If you arrive the day before boarding, there is no Princess transfer from LHR. But you can take the National Express to Southampton from the airport. It is very inexpensive and that is what we will do this June. Arriving the day of would totally stress me out and it is not really an option IMHO. Last June, we used Blackberry Cars from LHR to Southampton but it is very expensive and we will not do that again. If you know others who can share, then the cost is better. But finding others his a real logistical nightmare as we have experienced that people cancel out on you.

I will add to my previous post that we were on the Celebrity Reflection in October 2018- pre covid! We will most likely NEVER return to Celebrity. This was a 12 day itinerary and the service was horrid, the crew unfriendly and snooty. The buffet service was a joke - dirty tables abound and nobody in sight to offer us any drinks in the buffet. Then there were the flies daily flying around the food. Our steward was a sweetheart though and we tipped him extra.

Yes, we did whale watching first and then met my sister and BIL for the Alaskan Brewery tour. It was a great day in Juneau!

We totally enjoyed our Sky Princess cruise this last June; a 14-night Iceland and Norway itinerary. My first impression was how gorgeous she was. We must have really "lucked out" as the Cruise Director and his team were easily one of the very best we have experienced on Princess. The Cruise Director had just boarded and his team were very friendly, outgoing, and enthusiastic. True, Princess Live is too small of a venue for many of the activities. I usually acquired my drinks at Vines and they got to know me as well. Hubby went to the IC for his hot cocoa drinks and became friendly with the crew. Room service worked very speedily for my glass(s) of wine deliveries. And we were very aft. The delivery was always with a smile. We participated in the Chef's Table one night and it was a gorgeous setup and great food. Our dining room food was very good except I was unhappy about salmon not available on the "always available" menu. Too late, I found out that it is always available on the kid's menu. Bummer. We were not really crazy with the 2 production numbers, and typically like them. We found this crew to be up to the standards of what we expect with Princess (very good). Our only not so good Princess experience was on the Emerald in May 2022 for our British Isles cruise. The crew was grumpy, bordering on nasty! It was the first time that a staff person snapped at us- this was a wait staff person in the buffet area. I think I was in shock. The Emerald really had us think twice about Princess. So, we kept our plans for the Grand in September 2022 for Alaska (2 weeks) and it restored our faith in Princess. Phew!

We feel the same. We do not even spend our tie or money at fast food places at home. Everywhere we went on our tour this last June was so very frightfully expensive. And that was IF they had room for you and could actually handle tourists. This was a major problem in some ports.

Things may have changed since then. From what we saw, you would be lucky to get a hamburger for $10.00 at a fast food place. A cup of coffee or hot chocolate was about $6.00. However, it of course depends on how you want to experience the areas.

Yes, Viking Ocean is on the spendy side. Also, full payment is due a year before the cruise which we do not care for and why I cancelled with them. In June 2023, we did a Norway and Iceland cruise on the Sky Princess. Princess is not perfect but it has become our cruise line of choice. As far as a land tour goes, just also know that Iceland is EXPENSIVE!!!!! I mean YIKES! However, we really enjoyed our shore excursions except one which was horrid.

For what it is worth, we made every port last June on the Sky. And that includes Isafjordur.

These are two very different itineraries. We did the first one on the Sky Princess last June and really enjoyed the ship and the itinerary. We are doing the Baltic on the Sky this June.

Personally, we always book our shore excursions way ahead so we know that we have a tour for sure; otherwise it is just too stressful for a vacation. IMHO, you do not have an advantage at the "last minute".

Yes, I just put a throw pillow on the floor in front of the bedside light.

I guess it would depend on the vehicle and dates. Regardless, it is quite the contrast to a week in Florida during high season at about $423.00 and that is picking up and dropping off at different locations.