Sky Princess review from last weeks cruise (brief)

[Chefwoody]

Just wrapped up our first post Covid cruise on Sky Princess.  Management and I needed a sunny brain brake so picked a rather last minute Eastern Caribbean route on Sky.  Grabbed a mini suite near the front. We've never just "relaxed" on the ship before, so we opted for one dive excursion in St. Thomas and nothing in St. Maarten.  Here's our brief observations:

Crew: TIRED.  Nobody works harder than a cruise ship employee, but post Covid it - as it is everywhere in the entertainment industry - is much much worse.  Our room steward was amazing (as usual) and we saw no issues there.  But the restaurants and bars were extremely slow and the staff looked beat.  

 

   Again - no bitching here, just honest observations.  

 

Food: This sadly was another disappointment.  And, I suppose could also be due to crew/employee shortages.  But in all of my Princess cruise experiences this was the saddest.  Main dining was about the same - but SO SLOW!.  Food about average.  The real let downs were where you paid for the food.  Crown Grill: tough meat, poor menu selection - slow service.  Sabatini's: over cooked meat - slow service.  Ocean Terrace (sushi): I've seen better cafeteria sushi menus and effort - but- good service, small lines.  Bistro: best food of the lot, but slow service and small portions.  Sanctuary: Needs a new menu!.

Entertainment: We're not big show folks, but the comedian was fun, the musical not so much.  The rest was pretty much Princess standard fare.

Casino: OMG Princess.... STOP THE SMOKING!!!  I mean honestly.. THIS IS A NO BRAINER!.  Give those wishing to die a specially vented room to do so in.  Save us who'd otherwise spend more money in your casino from all the stink and cancer of second hand smoke. Smokers reading this - Save it!.

Fitness Center:  Still very nice.  But they really need a water bottle filling option.  All they have is one drinking fountain that you can't fill from.  Really what they (and all cruise lines) need is filtered water bottle stations around the ship and perhaps some well logo'd water bottles as part of your welcome aboard package.  Add it to the cost - I don't care if I know I'm saving the world from that many more disposable plastic water bottles - and there were a TON on this cruise.

Room - We had a forward mini suite (A215) and it was fine.  Room steward (Boris) was top notch!.  Had aft suites in the past and honestly they never did figure out the soot problems on ALL the back suites on this class of ship... so this round we didn't feel super guilty watching our poor room steward scrubbing the black soot marks out of the carpets and furniture.  Bed was amazing as usual - read some mixed reviews on this, but this was our opinion on this cruise/suite.

Extras: Because our goal was "down time" I made it my goal to sprint to the Sanctuary (as it's only first come first serve for reservations - and - cruisers turning around from the prior cruise often take up a good number of the spots there).  Here is another area needing some attention.  I'm fortunate enough to have early boarding status and overall good health.  The "sprint" up to deck 18 to stand in line to secure a couple spots in the Sanctuary was not impossible - but no less irritating.  I'd love to be able to pay for a class of suite that automatically gives me that comfort & privacy option.  We like the smaller lines for this option, but Celebrity does a great job here on their Edge class ships.  We did the Enclave package and loved that as well.  Never very crowded and always refreshing.

 

Overall a fine cruise.  Who knows what will happen in the next year.  Cruise lines are back in swing and the world wants a vacation.  More ships, more people.  More pollution.   Ports are full and people are... well people are people.  I'll stop there as that tact is another post all together.

 

 

[Mud_Shark]

Good review.  Thx.

[arctickitty]

@Chefwoody thanks for posting.  How much did you end up using the Sanctuary and how was your experience in it?

[Chefwoody]

We used the Sanctuary all but one day (afternoons 1pm - 6pm).  Usually left around 4:30.  Super super nice for privacy and peacefulness.  During World Cup (soccer) we were able to watch some of the games on one of the empty cabanas (they have flat screen tv's among other amenities).  Food was pretty "spa-ish" but really limited in selection.  Every afternoon around 3pm they bring a full "tea" service around - tea sized sandwiches & sweets - coffee or tea.  Really nice and at just the right time of day.  Service - as everywhere on board - was really slow.  The Retreat pool is very close (one floor down) and offers a bar and smaller pool.  Not too crowded and no kids.  All in all worth the effort to sprint up and get a spot on day one.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Don Terris had a YouTube review of the Sky and some of its shortcomings.  Apparently it pays to be a well-known Vlogger!  He said officers came to see him during his cruise and talk about the issues he was seeing.

 

Here is the initial posting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMD1laQeus&t=607s

 

And here is a followup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISy8vVAQrLs&t=309s

[crimsonbird]

We had been on the Sky for one month 3 years ago...the inaugural sailing.  We sailed her again in mid November.  All in all..it was not the "homecoming" we expected.  The food... especially in the main dining room was pretty bad.  There was not one meal that was memorable.  Gone were the gorgeous desserts.  Meats were tough...fish dried out.  As elite plus we won't be sailing princess again for a long time.  We relaxed, enjoyed being on the ocean...but we can do that on other lines.  Oh...and then we got Covid.  Not good.  

[Dreamcruiser185]

1 hour ago, Chefwoody said:

We used the Sanctuary all but one day (afternoons 1pm - 6pm).  Usually left around 4:30.  Super super nice for privacy and peacefulness.  During World Cup (soccer) we were able to watch some of the games on one of the empty cabanas (they have flat screen tv's among other amenities).  Food was pretty "spa-ish" but really limited in selection.  Every afternoon around 3pm they bring a full "tea" service around - tea sized sandwiches & sweets - coffee or tea.  Really nice and at just the right time of day.  Service - as everywhere on board - was really slow.  The Retreat pool is very close (one floor down) and offers a bar and smaller pool.  Not too crowded and no kids.  All in all worth the effort to sprint up and get a spot on day one.

All the Cabanas weren’t sold out for the week?  We are going to be on the Sky in March and really want to get one for the sea days.

[Rick&Jeannie]

I sure hope they get their act together soon!  We're booked on her for a May cruise in Europe.

[Mud_Shark]

1 hour ago, crimsonbird said:

As elite plus we won't be sailing princess again for a long time.  We relaxed, enjoyed being on the ocean...but we can do that on other lines.  Oh...and then we got Covid.  Not good.  

What is elite plus?  Is there a tier above elite?

 

[nini]

4 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I sure hope they get their act together soon!  We're booked on her for a May cruise in Europe.

I totally agree!!! We are on the Sky in June.

[nini]

@Chefwoody-

Thanks for sharing. I love your idea about the water! We would be totally willing to purchase a souvenir water bottle  and refill at water stations. This is truly a no brainer!

[wowzz]

8 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Don Terris had a YouTube review of the Sky and some of its shortcomings.  Apparently it pays to be a well-known Vlogger!  He said officers came to see him during his cruise and talk about the issues he was seeing.

 

Here is the initial posting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qMD1laQeus&t=607s

 

And here is a followup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISy8vVAQrLs&t=309s

To be fair, he said the food in the MDR and the buffet was fine. His main issues revolved around room service delays and cold food being delivered.

The response from Princess was spot on, in his view.

The key point that comes out, is to complain at the time, not wait until after the event, when it is too late for management to investigate and take corrective action. 

We are on Sky again in April, so will see how things are, but are still looking forward to the cruise.  

[crimsonbird]

14 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

What is elite plus?  Is there a tier above elite?

 

Sorry for the typo..no...elite is it.  Btw, we were told (who knows if it is true) that the chef on our November sailing would be leaving in a few weeks.  So...there's hope that things will be better.  

[ChutChut]

Thank you for the review. I got off the Sky a couple of days after Thanksgiving. We had a great cabin on the Sun deck and didn't experience the kinds of delays and poor food quality you did. Staff did seem tired and overworked and the ship was understaffed. Overall, I had a great time but am now dealing with Princess erroneously charging me for a future cruise deposit. Didn't look at my credit card statement until after I was home and noticed Princess charged me $300 instead of $200 ($100 for me and $100 for my daughter). 

[Chefwoody]

Hi D,  The entire Sanctuary was booked up about 2 hours after boarding started.  The cabanas - and many of the lounge chairs - often went unused at various times during the cruise.  We saw a cabana that never had anyone using it.  That's another problem with the system in my opinion.  Ideally if you're not going to use it (on a whim) than it should be made available to someone else for that time period. Take it off their bill for that day and sublet it to someone who REALLY would appreciate it.   Sadly it seems there are people with money to burn and little self awareness.  But honestly it's just a spendier version of what goes at every pool, the other half just clip towels to lounge chairs around the pool area at 6am, then arrive at noon to claim there claimed spot.  I've often wondered if I could rent myself as a lounge chair "holder" for a person or two - could pay for my cruise :).

[Dreamcruiser185]

53 minutes ago, Chefwoody said:

Hi D,  The entire Sanctuary was booked up about 2 hours after boarding started.  The cabanas - and many of the lounge chairs - often went unused at various times during the cruise.  We saw a cabana that never had anyone using it.  That's another problem with the system in my opinion.  Ideally if you're not going to use it (on a whim) than it should be made available to someone else for that time period. Take it off their bill for that day and sublet it to someone who REALLY would appreciate it.   Sadly it seems there are people with money to burn and little self awareness.  But honestly it's just a spendier version of what goes at every pool, the other half just clip towels to lounge chairs around the pool area at 6am, then arrive at noon to claim there claimed spot.  I've often wondered if I could rent myself as a lounge chair "holder" for a person or two - could pay for my cruise :).

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated