Basic Review of Sky Princess, Feb. 4-11, Eastern Caribbean

[LMADAMS91]

This was our fifth Princess Cruise but we have cruised on a couple of other lines.  This is a quick hit review, broken up into a few subjects. Obviously, it's subjective!

 

We left the hotel (Embassy Suites on 17th) around 10:30  and were on board before 11.  Rooms weren’t ready so we went up to the Lido deck, ordered a drink and relaxed for a bit. At 12, we made our way to Estrella dining room for lunch. (We asked a crew member which dining room was open for lunch and were told none were, use the buffet. I’ve heard this has happened to several others before so we found the Patter and found which dining room was open.) Lunch was great-the tenderloin was good. Before lunch was over, our room was ready.

 

We had a deluxe balcony-R108.  It’s been three years since we last cruised (on Sky) and I think I had forgotten how small the rooms were. The balcony may have been “deluxe”  but the space seemed to have been taken from the room itself. There was a love seat in the room, which I liked. Our luggage was waiting for us when we arrived, so we unpacked and settled in.

 

On our last cruise, the medallion and app were not very impressive. I couldn’t order anything with the app and I had to be right next to the pad by the door to get the medallion to unlock the door. My husband’s medallion opened it several feet away.

 

This time, the medallion worked better with the door. We had problems connecting to wifi initially but a stop at the Internet Café and we were good to go. The medallion/app worked much better on this trip. We used them to order, locate each other, check the Patter and check our account. It worked great most of the time-the only issue I had was being kicked off wifi constantly.  I used the app frequently to order cocktails and room service-it took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour for orders to arrive, but they always arrived!

 

My only issue with the medallion was that I am allergic to the metal. I ordered a wrist band to wear it in-by our second day, my skin under the medallion was itching. By the end of the day, I had a hive under the medallion where it touched by skin. I took it off overnight and itching went away. I put it back on the following morning and within a couple of hours, the hive was back and again itching. I had brought the lanyard thing that comes with the medallion and switched to that-no further problems. I can’t wear certain metals for earrings so I assume whatever the medallion is made from contains the same metals. I don’t remember having a problem on our first medallion cruise three years ago.

Edited February 14, 2023 by LMADAMS91

[LMADAMS91]

Food/dining

Food is very subjective….neither of us are foodies and it doesn’t take much to make us happy. The options available on the MDR menu were not always that appealing to me but there was always something I could order (I’m not a fan of fish or seafood other than shrimp and occasionally GOOD lobster.) There seemed to be more fish/seafood options this trip than before but I may not remember previous menus that well. We ate in the MDR five out of seven nights and were happy with the food and service. My only comment is if you want more than one glass of wine, I would suggest bringing one in and ordering the second immediately.

 

We had reservations in Estrella dining room every evening. From what we could tell, reservations mean nothing. We only waited a few minutes on a couple of occasions for a private table for two but there were several people in larger parties with reservations that had to wait some time for a table. There were people without reservations that were seated quickly…it really didn’t seem to make much difference. This isn’t a dig at the staff-they were working hard to get people in and out; all hands were on deck to get tables turned over. They were efficient and surprising polite considering how hard they worked.

 

We ate at Alfredo’s a couple of times for lunch and were very happy with the pizza and the veal ravioli. Veal ravioli is very rich!

 

Buffet was fine. No complaints.

 

We had the Plus Package. My husband generally doesn’t drink alcohol but I do and I took full advantage of it.. I tried as many cocktails as possible. I tried the fru-fru coffees….I like the iced varieties! I enjoyed sodas throughout the cruise as well as gathering several bottles of water. My husband enjoyed soda and mocktails, juice and the bottled water.  It was definitely worth the price for me; not so sure for my husband but since we both had to have it, I still think we were better off with it than without.

 

I surprised my husband with an early Valentine’s gift and scheduled an Ultimate Balcony Dinner. It was amazing all the way around. We had two dedicated waiters for the evening. They set up the balcony with a  table/tablecloth and flowers, then proceeded to serve an amazing meal, beginning with canapes.  Several were seafoody so I skipped those, but what I sampled were very good and my husband liked most of them.

Appetizer on the menu was a crab cake, which my husband enjoyed. I asked for shrimp cocktail and was served a platter of shrimp cocktail.  Fifteen shrimp-my husband also enjoyed some of these! Next was a salad, followed by the main entrée. Surf and turf (lobster tail and filet) for DH and filet for me. The filet I was served was massive….neither of us could finish the entrées despite our best efforts. The filet was served with a peppercorn sauce and horseradish; lobster tail with garlic butter. I sampled the lobster tail and if/when we repeat the UBD, I will go with the surf and turf. The lobster was much better than what is served in the main dining room. 

Dessert was an amazing chocolate/mousse/raspberry concoction that was beautifully designed…..but we asked if it could be put in the fridge for later; we couldn’t possibly eat any additional food. They obliged and we sampled it later-it was as delicious as it was beautiful.

Our final addition to the meal was some cookies and chocolates. 

The two waiters were in and out of our stateroom quickly and efficiently, unobtrusively allowing us a lovely, private dinner on the balcony. This is something we will be doing again!

Overall, service was exceptional throughout our cruise. The staff was without exception, very pleasant and went above and beyond to make us happy.

Edited February 14, 2023 by LMADAMS91

[LMADAMS91]

Ports

Our first port was supposed to be Princess Cay, but weather prevented us from going ashore. If we had to lose a port, this was the one I would prefer to miss. We aren’t big fans of sea days, so missing the port gave us two sea days in a row, which was a little tedious for us even though we tried to take advantage of things around the ship.

 

San Juan was our second port. We’ve been to San Juan several times and love the city. We opted to do an independent excursion here; we are both recently certified in open water scuba diving so booked a trip with Adventure Mermaid for a dive at the Escambron Marine Park. It was okay; not a lot to see.  It was a dive, which we enjoyed but it isn’t a dive I would repeat. My husband wandered around San Juan on his own after our dive while I stayed on the ship.

 

Amber Cove, DR was the next stop. We had been waitlisted for City Sights tour and were notified that we were on the tour. The day we arrived, rain/fog shrouded the top of the mountain where the Christ the Redeemer statue miniature version resides. Our tour arrived with rain coming down and virtually no visibility. We had a few minutes where the fog lifted, allowing some views but not a lot. We didn’t spend much time here and headed down to Puerta Plata to a city park. We had an hour to visit the gift shop and wander around.  Then back on the bus to do a drive-by of the fort before heading back to the ship.

I wouldn’t repeat this excursion in the future. Too much time in the city park with not a lot to see/do for us. We would have preferred more time at the fort. This was our first time visiting Amber Cove so we stuck with ship excursions but probably won’t for any future visits. The Dominican Republic, from what little we saw, looked beautiful and Princess didn’t really offer any excursions that we saw that would allow a little more exposure to the island.  

 

Final port was Grand Turks, Turks & Caicos, another first visit for us. We had booked a whale watching tour through Princess but it had been cancelled due to wind/rough seas. By the time we checked in with the excursion desk, there were only two options available….so we did an island tour on a small tourist bus. It was okay; we saw the island. Grand Turks has some beautiful views….We stopped at a couple of points to admire the view and take pictures. We fed the donkeys and took pictures of them. Again, next visit, we will book an independent excursion.

 

Probably my biggest complaint with Princess is the lack of options with excursions (or actually excursions that appeal to us-again, very subjective.) We usually book independently and will make sure to look elsewhere in the future.

 

We did book an excursion in Fort Lauderdale post cruise to kill time before our flight back. Holiday Park/airboat ride in the Everglades and a stop at Flamingo Gardens. We enjoyed both stops-I could spend days at both of these sites, so was happy with these. We were dropped at the airport in plenty of time for our return flight.

Edited February 14, 2023 by LMADAMS91

[LMADAMS91]

Miscellaneous:

Entertainment:  We’ve seen the production shows and had no desire to see them again.  Comedian was good; we saw his Princess Theater show and his second show in Vista Lounge.

 

We also enjoyed RJ Cantu (I think) magician and comedian and saw his Princess Theater show and again in the Vista Lounge later in the week. It was enjoyable….husband is a big magic fan so he was happy.

 

We took advantage of a couple of port talks and I one of the wine enrichment talks. We tried out several trivia challenges throughout the week. I love the fruit carving demos as well as towel folding etc (we had towel animals for the first time ever on a Princess cruise!)

 

 Sadly, there were a couple of things on our final sea day that I went to but there were several people who decided their viewing pleasure outweighed that of the people behind them and stood directly in front of the demos, blocking views of others. My patience was gone at this point, so I spent the last day on our balcony and in our stateroom.

 

Internet: as others have said, it sucked. We could use our phones but laptops were useless for anything but basic browsing.

 

 

Overall, this was a good trip for us. Not the best cruise we’ve done, but not the worst. We enjoyed it and I would repeat this itinerary in the future. We enjoyed the ship and thought the staff was fantastic.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by LMADAMS91

[tompeter]

Great report. Thanks for sharing.

[philv]

We are on Sky February 18 eastern itinerary but different than yours. Princess Cay, St. Thomas, St Martin. Have done this itinerary before and enjoyed. Thank you for your review, glad to hear ship is good to go! 🚢😀

[phabric]

We are doing the same cruise Feb 2024 on the Sky.  We have been on the Sky before.

 

Grand Turk - was your tour one of these - 

- Grand Turk by Open Air Tran

- Rainbow Caplypso Tram

 

Amber Cove - was your tour one of these -

 - Easy Puerto Plata

 - Mountain View & City Sights

 

For Amber Cove, I was told there is a pool area near here the port?

[TracieABD]

We were in the Sky the week before you.  So glad you had a good cruise.  Thank you for the review. 

[LMADAMS91]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

We are doing the same cruise Feb 2024 on the Sky.  We have been on the Sky before.

 

Grand Turk - was your tour one of these - 

- Grand Turk by Open Air Tran

- Rainbow Caplypso Tram

 

Amber Cove - was your tour one of these -

 - Easy Puerto Plata

 - Mountain View & City Sights

 

For Amber Cove, I was told there is a pool area near here the port?

Grand Turk wasn't either of those. It was an air conditioned tourist van/bus (smaller than the regular sized buses.) I think it was Island Vibes and Beach Break. We stopped at the beach but opted to go back to the ship and not hang out on the beach.

 

Amber Cove was the Mountain View & City Sights Tour.  I think you are right about a pool near the port but I don't remember seeing it. Grand Turk has a beach on either side of the pier.  

[phabric]

Thanks

[christraveller]

How doable is Puerto Plata by taxi, then walking, then taxi back?

[MustangGT]

Amber Cove had a pool area but no beach.

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, christraveller said:

How doable is Puerto Plata by taxi, then walking, then taxi back?

Lol, it's more than a 2 hours walk, via highway, hills, etc. Not doable. Quick check of Maps will show you . 

[reedprincess]

On 2/14/2023 at 10:49 AM, phabric said:

We are doing the same cruise Feb 2024 on the Sky.  We have been on the Sky before.

 

Grand Turk - was your tour one of these - 

- Grand Turk by Open Air Tran

- Rainbow Caplypso Tram

 

Amber Cove - was your tour one of these -

 - Easy Puerto Plata

 - Mountain View & City Sights

 

For Amber Cove, I was told there is a pool area near here the port?

Amber Cove has a huge pool, swim up bar, loads of free chairs, etc right in port. Hand a right out if the duty free shop.

Umbrellas, floats, padded loungers, pool side cabanas, and so forth all available for a fee. 

[cadreamer]

Do you recall the price  of  the wine enrichment talk?

[LMADAMS91]

54 minutes ago, cadreamer said:

Do you recall the price  of  the wine enrichment talk?

There was no additional charge for the enrichment talks. There were a couple of them with different subjects. 

 

Edited February 18, 2023 by LMADAMS91
addiing

[LMADAMS91]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:32 PM, christraveller said:

How doable is Puerto Plata by taxi, then walking, then taxi back?

Not really sure on walking Puerto Plata. I don't have much of an idea of size. You do need a taxi from the port to get there and back. We walked around in the vicinity of the park where we were dropped but that's all.