New to NCL / Sky / Questions

[mscreneet]

My family has always cruised Carnival and RCCL

Were consering a cruise on NCL due to the AWESOME prices were finding.

We are a family of 4. married couple with 2/kids. We have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. This will be the first time that my 10 year old has ever cruised.

 

Anyway.....I have a few questions regarding us possible sailing on the SKY

 

1. How is NCL in regards to activities. Are there are lot of things going o, on the ship. (weve always been a little partial to carnival because of the number of activities.

 

2. How are the kid programs? Are my kids going to get bored quickly?

 

3. The sky?? is this a newer ship?

 

Sorry if these have been asked before. We are trying to make a quick last minute decision about this and I figured this site would give me the best feedback...

 

Gotta love CC.

 

Thanks guys!

[michellie9183]

Me and DH just got off the sky today, it was wonderful! The kids program seemed good (we have no kids), but we saw them on scavenger hunts and the teen room always had cool music, wii video games, air hockey and fooseball. We wished we were teenagers again! There is a basket ball/vollyball court by the pool. Batting cages, mini hockey area, and lots of ping pong tables. The comedian was good and a clean enough show for older kids. We missed the other shows. There were lots of families and less drunk people than on the carnival cruise I was on last. People have complained about smells on part of the ship, but when we were there we didn't smell anything (they were replacing carpet) Are ac and heat worked great in the room and the main dining rooms were wonderful, only waited about 10 minutes on one night. I would definately suggest the sky!

[DAGVBSB]

 

1. How is NCL in regards to activities. Are there are lot of things going o, on the ship. (weve always been a little partial to carnival because of the number of activities.

 

2. How are the kid programs? Are my kids going to get bored quickly?

 

3. The sky?? is this a newer ship?

 

Sorry if these have been asked before. We are trying to make a quick last minute decision about this and I figured this site would give me the best feedback...

 

Gotta love CC.

 

Thanks guys!

 

The Sky is not a new ship. She has a long history.

 

She was launched in 1999 as the Norweigan Sky.

In 2004, she underwent a Million dollar refurbishment to become the "Pride of Aloha." She was reflagged as an American flagged ship. (at the time, she was the first American flagged cruise ship in 50 years until the Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii came along.) She then sailed for NCL-America for nearly four years under that name.

 

Earlier this year, NCL-America cut back to one ship and as a result NCL attempted to sell the Pride of Aloha. After having no luck selling her, they decided to keep her, reflag her back into the International registry and rename her Norweigan Sky once again. She under went another refurbishment in May of this year to get her old name back. (they did keep the floral hull art display that she had as the Pride of Aloha.

 

I sailed on her on her first voyage from San Francisco to Hawaii in 2004. I found that there was plenty of activities to do on board. My daughter, who has always loved NCL kids clubs, found that the Kids Club area on the Aloha/Sky was smaller and she really didn't enjoy going there. Being a smaller ship, there is no rock wall or skating rinks.

 

Freestyle Cruising is a real plus however. The freedom to choose when to eat and how you want to dress to eat is great. (no set dining times and no mandatory formal nights.) You also have the choice of six or seven dining venues to choose from on the Sky.

[garycarla]

There is plenty to do on NCL ships. I would say about the same as others, give or take a little. Read more for newbies on NCL here