Live From the Sky Princess, 21-Day Norway-Baltic B2B, Jul 13 – Aug 3

[jaycruising]

Looking forward to following along on your experience, we are on for the first 7 days of this voyage and I just started my live from thread as well!

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, jaycruising said:

Looking forward to following along on your experience, we are on for the first 7 days of this voyage and I just started my live from thread as well!

Cool! It’s going to be an awesome cruise! 😁

[cr8tiv1]

You had such good luck in Alaska with the Northern Lights.  Doesn't look promising for this cruise.

 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/27-day-outlook-107-cm-radio-flux-and-geomagnetic-indices

[joejoe 59]

On 7/10/2024 at 2:14 AM, Justpackingmybags said:

Of course!

this is how we roll in the UK plug wise

Good info for us coming from Australia. Do these plugs also work on Princess ships out of the UK, or world we need a US adapter?

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

You had such good luck in Alaska with the Northern Lights.  Doesn't look promising for this cruise.

 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/27-day-outlook-107-cm-radio-flux-and-geomagnetic-indices

These are a couple of links I also like to use when I’m on the “hunt” for the Lights. However, darkness does come in handy too and cruising below the Arctic Circle around the southern part of Norway and the Baltic in late July probably doesn’t help. 😂

 

https://auroraforecast.com/

 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-30-minute-forecast

However, we did book a Princess Northern Lights cruise in Oct 2026 where are chances will be a lot better! 😁

[Justpackingmybags]

47 minutes ago, joejoe 59 said:

Good info for us coming from Australia. Do these plugs also work on Princess ships out of the UK, or world we need a US adapter?

I can only speak for the Sky - last time I did the TA on her, Princess had already put a US/UK adapter in one of the sockets. But these days we’ve all got so many electrical bits and pieces that I needed the adapter too. The bedside lights have USBb slots in them, but I needed USBc and treated myself to a new adapter from Amazon.

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at our regional airport with clear skies all around, the bags are checked, and our plane just landed that will be taking us to Atlanta in about an hour. Yay! 😁
 

Edited July 11 by Ken the cruiser

[cr8tiv1]

And another wonderful journey begins.  
 

Malama Pono ..take care and safe travels.  

[Jcr70]

Joining you on the Norwegian leg of this cruise.  We sailed a similar route on Sapphire Princess in 2018 and are hopeful this will be as enjoyable

[Ken the cruiser]

We arrived at London Heathrow Terminal 3 around 6:30 am. We were obviously sitting on the wrong side of the plane as this was the view just before we landed. I know, breathtaking! 😂

 

 

After breezing through Customs with just our passports, we headed over to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. Then came the fun part of finding directions to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, which is located next to Terminal 2. Basically, it’s about a 20 minute walk to Terminal 2. Once you get there, you have to go up one level, then walk through the Car Park Level 1, and the hotel entrance will be on the other side. 

 

 
We got to the hotel around 7:30 am but weren’t allowed to check in until 1 pm. However, if you are willing to pay an additional 50 pounds for Early Checkin, which we did, you can head directly to your room. All together, we paid $327 for the room, which includes breakfast tomorrow morning at the hotel restaurant. Here’s the view from our room. As you can see, it was overcast this morning but no rain so far.

 

 

As far as USB ports go, there is one of these panels on each side of the bed as well as one near the desk. However, we didn’t see any USB-C ports.

 

 

[Esprit]

Welcome to sunny London @Ken the cruiser

The summer weather here has been rubbish. I really wish you have a sunny sail away but be prepared for showers!🙄

Peter

[Island2Dweller]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were obviously sitting on the wrong side of the plane as this was the view just before we landed

It wouldn't have made any difference where you were sitting.  You landed on an easterly approach, which means you did not fly over central London at all. 

Most approaches are westerly approach, which does go over central London.

But it all depends on the wind.  About a quater to a third of the time, they fly the easyerly approach

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, Esprit said:

Welcome to sunny London @Ken the cruiser

The summer weather here has been rubbish. I really wish you have a sunny sail away but be prepared for showers!🙄

Peter

Thanks Peter! On the bright side, it looks like the clouds might be clearing up once we get out into the Channel! At least for a while. 😁

 

[Sailn4Fun]

Ken, We are going on this cruise in 2025.  We would like to know what excursions you have signed up for in each port.  We'll be following your comments as we are sailing basically the same 21 days next year.

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, Sailn4Fun said:

Ken, We are going on this cruise in 2025.  We would like to know what excursions you have signed up for in each port.  We'll be following your comments as we are sailing basically the same 21 days next year.

If you go to my first post where I included the itinerary, I have linked each excursion to the applicable port. Just click on the linked port and it should list which excursion we have booked.

[Ken the cruiser]

We just ventured back over to LHR Terminal 2 to find the Cafe Nero Market Place, which conveniently enough is located in the ARRIVALS area and on same level as our hotel. And since the hotel restaurant opens at 6:30 am for breakfast and our jet lag I’m sure will still be with us, we should not have any issues making it over to Cafe Nero by 7:30 am to hopefully catch an early transfer to the ship. 😁

 

Edited July 12 by Ken the cruiser

[catgirl411]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We arrived at London Heathrow Terminal 3 around 6:30 am. We were obviously sitting on the wrong side of the plane as this was the view just before we landed. I know, breathtaking! 😂

 

 

After breezing through Customs with just our passports, we headed over to baggage claim to pick up our luggage. Then came the fun part of finding directions to the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, which is located next to Terminal 2. Basically, it’s about a 20 minute walk to Terminal 2. Once you get there, you have to go up one level, then walk through the Car Park Level 1, and the hotel entrance will be on the other side. 

 

 
We got to the hotel around 7:30 am but weren’t allowed to check in until 1 pm. However, if you are willing to pay an additional 50 pounds for Early Checkin, which we did, you can head directly to your room. All together, we paid $327 for the room, which includes breakfast tomorrow morning at the hotel restaurant. Here’s the view from our room. As you can see, it was overcast this morning but no rain so far.

 

 

As far as USB ports go, there is one of these panels on each side of the bed as well as one near the desk. However, we didn’t see any USB-C ports.

 

 

Very easy to find the hotel from Terminal 2 (if you fly Air Canada). It’s basically a 5 minute walk after you get through customs. And our Princess shuttle meeting place was in Terminal 2 just outside the WH Smith store

[catgirl411]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We just ventured back over to LHR Terminal 2 to find the Cafe Nero Market Place, which conveniently enough is located in the ARRIVALS area and on same level as our hotel. And since the hotel restaurant opens at 6:30 am for breakfast and our jet lag I’m sure will still be with us, we should not have any issues making it over to Cafe Nero by 7:30 am to hopefully catch an early transfer to the ship. 😁

 

They say Cafe Nero but it is closer to the WH Smith store.

[paddingtonbear]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If you go to my first post where I included the itinerary, I have linked each excursion to the applicable port. Just click on the linked port and it should list which excursion we have booked.

Very tech savvy of you! Thank you. 

[cr8tiv1]

38 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said:

Very tech savvy of you! Thank you. 

 

@Ken the cruiser is probably one of the more "experienced" live poster with lots of details, photos, and quick responses.  He is no "new kid on the block".  

 

Best of all, he has several tangents that keep his thread interesting.  

 

Thanks Ken. 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

Very tech savvy of you! Thank you. 

Thanks! I have to say being a cruiseaholic with a computer background, a do enjoy finding creative ways to enhance my Live From threads to help me gain quick access to a variety of information, especially regarding our booked excursions, wildlife we might see along the way, and “Windy” forecasted weather conditions, once we’re on a cruise. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

It’s 5 am right now and as we deal with jet lag, I’ve been checking out the forecast for early Sunday morning when we’re cruising towards the North Sea on the way to Bergen (at the top of the chart). Right now Windy is forecasting the wind speed to be around 30+ mph with the wave action around 8 ft. Did I mention our cabin is high up on the bow section of the ship! Luckily, the motion of the ocean really doesn’t bother us. But it may get a little exciting! 😂

 

[cr8tiv1]

Princess needs to move their suites to a lower deck.  Oh, right, they stopped doing that with the new builds.  (aka Sheldon Cooper)

 

I cancelled a cruise on the Sky when they moved me to S111.

Edited July 13 by cr8tiv1

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Princess needs to move their suites to a lower deck.  Oh, right, they stopped doing that with the new builds.  (aka Sheldon Cooper)

I’m sure we’ll be find, especially since it’s a “big” ship. But I did notice the corner window suites and OV cabins up on the Sun Deck might have a downside on rough sea days, say on an Hawaiian cruise out of LA or SF! 😱
 

Edited July 13 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Just to complete the process, we just checked in for our PCL transfer to the ship at 6:50 am at this counter, which is located just as folks are leaving the secure arrival area. In the background on the left is Caffe Nero and WH Smith on the right. 😁