Live from the Sky Christmas/New Yrs

[MaryBethV]

Where is the scale? Can you use it to weigh luggage? Just wondering as I'd love to reduce the airport re-shuffle a little. Not brave enough to step on the darned thing until I get home. 😉

 

oops - I see you noted where it was. We must have been typing at the same time.

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by MaryBethV

[h-sar]

16 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

Truly, thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! All the details have been extremely helpful as we plan to board in just about a month with my in-laws (who will be first time cruisers!). And your commentary is just the BEST. 🙂

 

Your in-laws will absolutely love the Sky. My parents, who are typically homebodies and hate going anywhere, love the few cruises they have gone on due to the level of service and the degree of independence they can have on board. And there’s something to do for every age group.

[MusicalBear]

Wonderful live thread!!  

 

Could you please tell me when the second formal night is on the Western part of your cruise?  I know the first sea day is the first formal (except Christmas Day on your cruise) but not sure of when the second one would be with all of the port stops.

 

Thank you

[h-sar]

12 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

Where is the scale? Can you use it to weigh luggage? Just wondering as I'd love to reduce the airport re-shuffle a little. Not brave enough to step on the darned thing until I get home. 😉

 

oops - I see you noted where it was. We must have been typing at the same time.

 

it might be a bit of a hassle dragging luggage all the way up there. It is way at the back of deck 18. Would not be easy to maneuver large pieces of luggage through to there. I’ve heard some on Cruise critic say that they have asked their steward for the use of a small handheld digital scale. We take along a small digital one, but with all the toiletries and night clothes that need to be put back into suitcases after disembarkation, we still do the final check with the airport scales, as we’re always super close to allowance.

Edited January 5, 2020 by h-sar

[h-sar]

4 minutes ago, MusicalBear said:

Wonderful live thread!!  

 

Could you please tell me when the second formal night is on the Western part of your cruise?  I know the first sea day is the first formal (except Christmas Day on your cruise) but not sure of when the second one would be with all of the port stops.

 

Thank you

First week was Dec 22 and 25.

Second week was back to back, Dec 31 and Jan 1.

[h-sar]

Giving the Harmony of the Seas a proper send off in St Maarten. Make sure you’ve got sound on. I might just have to listen to this every single day until next year’s cruise as a form of emotional therapy ha ha.

Edited January 5, 2020 by h-sar

[canuckgardener]

I read on a facebook thread the formal nights were on Sunday ( sea day ) and Wednesday, Roatan on the Western route, then Monday ( sea day ) and Thursday ( sea day ) on the Eastern route.

 

We are also on the January 18 B2B, coming from Edmonton, Alberta

Edited January 5, 2020 by canuckgardener

[MaryBethV]

Any chance you know how long Captain Tuvo will be on? Hoping he will be there in February!

 

[h-sar]

15 minutes ago, MaryBethV said:

Any chance you know how long Captain Tuvo will be on? Hoping he will be there in February!

 

Completely slipped my mind to ask. 
 

Static, the band, is on til Apr 4 and then are on Caribbean Princess. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by h-sar

[h-sar]

1 hour ago, canuckgardener said:

I read on a facebook thread the formal nights were on Sunday ( sea day ) and Wednesday, Roatan on the Western route, then Monday ( sea day ) and Thursday ( sea day ) on the Eastern route.

 

We are also on the January 18 B2B, coming from Edmonton, Alberta

Oops, second week formals were New Yrs Eve and Jan 2, so Tue and Thu. (St Thomas and sea day). 
 

It’ll be nice to get away from our weather in the second half of Jan! Have a fantastic cruise! 

Edited January 5, 2020 by h-sar

[Orangefan]

19 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Completely slipped my mind to ask. 
 

Static, the band, is on til Apr 4 and then are on Caribbean Princess. 

 

h-sar,

      Thanks for all your reporting. I was on the Dec. 4 and Dec 7 Sky.

I spoke to Capt. Tuvo and he said he will be on the ship for 3 months, then the other Captain will be back on while he is on vacation. I am hoping he will be on the Sky for 10 day reposition cruise from NYC to the Carib. Nov.5  2020. With all the pictures you take you would enjoy the sail away out of the Brooklyn Red Hook. When you approach the Verranzano Narrows Bridge  and go under the bridge it looks like the top of the ship is going to be cut off. As you are about to go under the bridge everybody looks aims their camera up toward the underside of the bridge and take pictures.

 

   I also love the Static band. The December cruise was the third time I had seen them and they are awesome.. I wonder if they are going to rotate back and forth from the Sky and Carib Princess.

 

  Beside the Nov. 5th cruise on the Sky, I have been looking for the end of March. The airfare to Fort Lauderdale is $ 800 for me.  I figure they arguing to have to lower the prices since the airplanes that I have looked at are empty.

Sali

 

[tk2fast]

17 hours ago, h-sar said:

Static, the band, is on til Apr 4 and then are on Caribbean Princess. 

That's a disappointment!

We are on the April 4th Sky and were so looking forward to seeing Static.

[MJSailors]

    Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to write interesting posts and share photos of the Sky. 

My DH and I are also booked on the Nov.5th repositioning cruise that Orangefan has mentioned in her post.We are looking forward to sailing on a new Princess ship. We are also hoping that Captain Tuvo is on that cruise. 

I am reading everything that has been posted by CC folks  who have already experienced the Sky in preparation of our cruise. So far, most posters have enjoyed the ship.

     Wishing you and your family many good days and pleasant travels in 2020 !

      

[BrennerM]

On 1/1/2020 at 1:08 PM, FM said:

...

Since it appears you are a long time Princess cruiser, do you enjoy the quality of Princess's dining offerings? Would you say that the Crown Grill aboard the Sky is a step above the Keg … or similar to Ruth's Chris?    

...

 

 

Not sure if anyone responded to this but I've eaten at the Crown Grill several times over several cruises and I can state definitively that it is better than the Keg (which I also enjoy very much BTW).  The tenderloin steak (filet mignon? can't recall exactly what they call it at the Crown Grill) is fantastic quality, and it's quite big.  I think they call it 7oz on the menu but mine have always been bigger than that, more like 10oz.  One of the best steaks I've ever had.  The rest of the menu is very good too (French Onion soup is decadent, tasty desserts, etc).

 

I've also ordered a Crown Grill steak in the MDR (for an extra fee but less than the full Crown Grill fee) and it was very good as well, and you can get the side dishes from the Crown Grill as well.

[h-sar]

Bought my FCD‘S (2 per each of us) on the OM app a few min before we disembarked. Only took a few seconds and the credit card you have on file gets charged in the denomination you paid your current cruise in. 
 

Hope these current promos without obc aren’t going to become a permanent fixture. We don’t drink, so the drinks package promo is wasted on us. Don’t always get the unlimited Wi-Fi as we have the platinum minutes for all four of us, so that’s not a huge draw. The free OBC is always the most lucrative promo for us. We had $1200 in straight OBC from Princess for the two weeks on the Sky (not including our FCCs or the specialty dining given to each of us for both weeks by our TA). As a result, our final bill was $22. We had paid in advance for gratuities when I learned that the price was going up by a bit a few months back. 
 

The OBC paid for a snorkeling/cenotes/lunch excursion in Cozumel for the kids, the unlimited wifi for both weeks, a soda package for DS for both weeks, the Enclave couple’s pass both weeks, bucket of beer for my brother’s birthday, some gelato, 4 uses of self serve laundry wash and dry, DD’s hair cut in the salon, and a second visit to the Ocean Terrace for lunch by the kids. The OBC was definitely well used and much appreciated. 
 

Edited January 7, 2020 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Champagne waterfall on a non-formal night, hence the captain in shirt sleeves (with his son, who often played a great straight man to his father’s antics!). Both champagne waterfalls we saw featured the Princess entertainers. It was a fun add-on to the event.

[h-sar]

Regrets:

- never did try the $5 Ernesto burger

- didn’t try the chili cheese fries

- didn’t spend much time at all in the old style wooden loungers outside on deck 7

- didn’t use the retreat pool (always had the best conversations with other passengers there in the past)

- didn’t go to Sabatini‘s a second time for the prosciutto and deep-fried bread, the roasted bell pepper sauce, the Burrata, and the desserts.

- missed signing up for the family gingerbread house making contest

- didn’t go over to Anguilla from St Maarten yet again; one year...

- didn’t attend many of the evening game shows in Princess Live or the Vista. The ones I did were an absolute hoot, such as the marriage one and Frisky Feud. 

- missed 5Skies the second week (it was on the late night in St. Thomas which was also New Yrs Eve - bad timing on Princess’ part). Again, why not have it on one of the two sea days later on? Glad I had seen it the week prior. Don’t let the talk of the video game storyline dissuade you from the production. I found the storyline to be totally secondary to the magnificent costumes, singing, dancing, and pageantry of the production. In fact, I found the storyline totally superfluous to my immense enjoyment of the show.

 

You do realize what all these regrets mean, right? Yup, already booked...😆😆

[h-sar]

Glad I:

 

- went to Alfredo’s at least every other day for lunch to indulge my love of the Magro caprese style salad and my husband his love of the calzone

- always managed to hit the fries at the grill as they were coming out fresh (a daily snack)

- forgot to sign and give my brother his birthday card as it came in handy when I found out later that our lovely steward, Jhoy, had a birthday the second week (his wife was the room steward for the set of rooms next to his 😊. Made me really happy that they were together). Slipped him an extra tip in the card. He was really touched that we acknowledged his birthday.

- took every opportunity to be outside as much as possible to get in the vitamin D

- didn’t waste my money, for the first time, on the ever ridiculously rising prices of the soda and more card ($15+ CDN per day...really, Princess?) Keep your mocktails and healthy smoothies; I’ll just bring my 24 pack of Diet Coke on board. I actually ended up drinking a lot less pop as a result (had half the case left over after week two).

- went to the Captain’s Circle party in the Vista

- went to afternoon tea multiple times and indulged in cucumber and tomato sandwiches and scones (do you want some scones with your cream? Yup, really enjoyed that cream).

- was able to keep Sunil as our waiter for the second week when we had to shift to a smaller table. Lovely, earnest man who appreciated all the conversations with DH in the mother tongue.

- had a lot of late night family gatherings on the deserted pool deck with the entire extended family that first week when everyone was on board. Lots of laughs and I know it made my parents so happy to see us all together.

- have kids who know me well and booked my belated bday massage for the Sanctuary. Bliss. Thinking that might be my yearly bday ask.

- indulged my desire to do as little as possible some days other than to be a layabout in a lounge chair 

- was able to have Christmas with all the people I love most in the world.

[h-sar]

11 hours ago, BrennerM said:

 

Not sure if anyone responded to this but I've eaten at the Crown Grill several times over several cruises and I can state definitively that it is better than the Keg (which I also enjoy very much BTW).  The tenderloin steak (filet mignon? can't recall exactly what they call it at the Crown Grill) is fantastic quality, and it's quite big.  I think they call it 7oz on the menu but mine have always been bigger than that, more like 10oz.  One of the best steaks I've ever had.  The rest of the menu is very good too (French Onion soup is decadent, tasty desserts, etc).

 

I've also ordered a Crown Grill steak in the MDR (for an extra fee but less than the full Crown Grill fee) and it was very good as well, and you can get the side dishes from the Crown Grill as well.

Do they limit the side dishes? Is there an extra charge for them or are they included in the price of the CG entree?

[BrennerM]

12 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Do they limit the side dishes? Is there an extra charge for them or are they included in the price of the CG entree?

No extra charge. I was about to say which sides I wanted but my waiter said “I’ll order you all of the side dishes” and that was fine by me!  And this was in anytime dining where  I didn’t even know the waiter well.  Sweet!

[h-sar]

5 minutes ago, BrennerM said:

No extra charge. I was about to say which sides I wanted but my waiter said “I’ll order you all of the side dishes” and that was fine by me!  And this was in anytime dining where  I didn’t even know the waiter well.  Sweet!

You have just opened up all sorts of possibilities for me 😋😋

[h-sar]

On 1/4/2020 at 1:17 PM, h-sar said:

Sitting in a restaurant, Chicken and Beer, in the intl terminal at ATL in the midst of a 4 hr layover. Love ATL - huge and shiny like a new shopping mall 😁. Family’s gathered around the iPad as the Barca match just came on, leaving me to my own devices 😜. Get it??

 

Had do take a bus from domestic to intl. Felt like we were going quite a ways - is it in two completely different locations?

 

Can’t get over all the baby faced boys in camouflage. Is there some sort of training base a flight away? 

Of course, later found out, sadly, about all the deployments. They all looked like babies. 😔

[h-sar]

12 hours ago, MJSailors said:

    Thank you for taking the time from your vacation to write interesting posts and share photos of the Sky. 

My DH and I are also booked on the Nov.5th repositioning cruise that Orangefan has mentioned in her post.We are looking forward to sailing on a new Princess ship. We are also hoping that Captain Tuvo is on that cruise. 

I am reading everything that has been posted by CC folks  who have already experienced the Sky in preparation of our cruise. So far, most posters have enjoyed the ship.

     Wishing you and your family many good days and pleasant travels in 2020 !

      

Have you had a chance to watch any of the YouTube videos by the bloggers from the very first three day Mediterranean cruise? There is some amazing footage in some of those videos. 

[CruiseVA]

From the 12/4 cruise - the $5 Ernesto burger - add on a beer for $2 is totally worth it! Oh, the retreat pool, loved it, other's hated the shade, I loves the shade. Crazy CD Alex & band Excite! Crown Grill awesome as always. 3 day cruise hard to do much. we're back on her next January, can't wait.

Thanks for the posts!

[CruiseVA]

5 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Of course, later found out, sadly, about all the deployments. They all looked like babies. 😔

That's because they are! We've had many nieces & nephews deployed, all have returned so far, thankfully.