Trip Report - Sky Back to Back - Bahamas and Cuba - Long

Some background.....we are a couple in our late 50s/just 60s. This was our first trip on NCL, but our 40th or so cruise in the last 20 years. We picked NCL solely for the itinerary, as we really did not want to go on one of the mass-market cruise lines (NCL/RCI/Carnival) due to our experiences of our RCI trips going further downhill with every cruise. Our choices for Cuba were Viking Ocean Cruises (almost $23K for the week for the room we wanted), Carnival, RCI, and NCL. I travel 2-3 weeks per month for work (mostly domestic), and HATE getting on a plane to start and end a vacation. No better way to potentially ruin the beginning or the end of your trip! We made cruising our vacation-of-choice as it's our

best venue to be completely disconnected and spend time just with ourselves - we don't even check email or anything on B2B turn-around day. So, you won't hear about any shows, or ship's activities here.

We are a very low-maintenance, down-to-earth couple - but cruising is where we spoil ourselves. I have been very fortunate in working for an amazing company for nearly the last 20 years that has afforded us the opportunities to do so. On RCI we've stayed either in the OS (equivalent to NCL Sky Penthouse Suite) or the RS (equivalent to NCL Sky Owner's Suite). Our previous cruise to this was on Holland America's Oosterdam where we were upgraded to the Pinnacle Suite (no equivalent on Sky-class ships), where we were incredibly well-taken care of - but will not use that as a comparison for this trip.

We hadn't picked NCL because it was NCL. We basically picked what we thought would be the best option of so-so choices. We were so wrong on that. We were incredibly impressed by the job NCL did. So much better than we expected, and WAY better than our last experiences on RCI. We spent 7 or so years on RCI, and the last couple it really went downhill. By treating their employees (at least non-officer) so badly, and making them so scared that any small transgression will have them lose their seniority or even their job, service suffered dramatically. NCL from our experience seems to be doing it right.

We wanted a vacation longer than 4 days, so we booked the 3-day Bahamas cruise with a back-to-back 4-day Cuba cruise (in that order). We were in 8201, which is an OS on deck 8. There are four OSs, two on deck 8 and two on deck 9. The ones on deck 8 have a nicer balcony than the ones on deck 9, with a much larger hot tub.

There was a HUGE difference in the atmosphere (and guests) between the Bahamas weekend cruise and the Cuba mid-week cruise, which we kind of expected. By 5pm on embarkation day for the Bahamas, the ship was littered with bottles/glasses and with lots of drunk rowdy celebrants. Getting a drink at the pool bar was a 5-person-deep wait. Expected the behavior we saw in the 20-30s group, but were a little surprised for 50-60s group. Being a weekend all-inclusive cruise - it was mostly what we expected. After the first night, it was a much quieter crowd though.

Embarkation:

We arrived at the port around 10:15am. Parking at port of Miami has gotten a bit easier than last time we were there during construction. You first pull up to drop your luggage, then pull in the covered garage to park. Parking is $20/day at the port. On entering the terminal, we were immediately ushered into a reception area for suite guests. After a very quick check-in, there was a nice seating area with coffee/juices/snacks set up for us to wait to go onboard. They had some stragglers from the last cruise, so we had to wait maybe 15-20 minutes. The butlers came to introduce themselves, and then we were escorted onboard before general boarding. We were first taken to the concierge lounge (Plantation room) and then to Cagney's for lunch. For suite guests, Cagneys is exclusively open for breakfast and lunch. During lunch we were told that just our rooms were ready, and we could feel free go through the closed access doors to get to them. Lots of dirty looks from people waiting when we did it, but being able to drop our stuff was very welcome.

Stateroom:

Pretty freakin' nice!! Inside was around 500 square feet, with about a 300 square foot balcony and hot tub. Walking in the room, there's a half-bath to the right then a bar area. Before the trip we were contacted to specify what 6 bottles of liquor we desired to be pre-stocked in our bar for the 2 cruises. There's no way we were able to drink that much in 7 days, so at the end of the trip you have the option of donating to the Monday crew party which is what we did with most of it. To the left after several closets was the bedroom and bath. Very comfy king bed, full bath with tub and stand-up shower. There's a real door to the bedroom, but only sliding louvered panels on the wall that faces forward. These aren't very effective at blocking lights or sound - so privacy would be limited if more than 2 are in the room. In the main part of the room are a sofa bed, 4-top dining table, chairs, coffee table, and desk. Also a Lavassa coffee maker and nice stereo system. To hook up our own music, I brought a cable with an earphone jack at one end and RCA white/red connectors at the other. We were able to plug these into jacks on the stereo unit and enjoy our own music. No speakers on the balcony though. There's tons of closet space and also a Murphy bed if needed. The balcony was huge, and the first time we had one that faced forward. There were 2 lounger chairs, another 4-top dining table with 4 chairs, and a 4-6 person hot tub. Most of the balcony is covered and the barriers between balconies extend forward so that no one can see in yours from the side. Balconies above can see the uncovered portion of our balcony, but it was still very very private. Another perk is the concierge and butler. It seemed like everything was always taken care of so

well that there's almost nothing we needed - they seemed to be bummed when they couldn't do something else for us. Both were great.

Day 1:

Luggage was arriving in rooms by 3 or so, and they said "there was something going on in the port today" and that normally it's even earlier than that. For me - real vacation mode starts when I'm unpacked. We explored around the ship which by its size is very easy to navigate. There's a couple of "you can't get there from here" spots, but you quickly learn your way around. Muster drill was at 4:15 (bells/horn start at 4) and fairly painless - we try to get there somewhere between the time you are squished up all the way in the back and before the time people start getting pissed at the late-comers. Had a great view as we toasted for sail away.

Before dinner, we went to the Plantation bar, which became our bar-of-choice for the week. Add to that, they also have sushi there (a la carte). Add to that, the sushi they did was really good.

We had made reservations before departure for dinners even though it's supposed to be"Freestyle". There were definitely some waits at peak times for walkups, so we were glad we did. Even when there were lines to check in and people waiting for seating, it looked like if you had made a reservation they were holding those tables open so that you were seated immediately. We were really impressed both the food and service in the main dining room (we only experienced Palace but have to assume the other one was the same) and it was up there with the best we've experienced cruising. Yes, this is a personal thing....but there's something to be said for small details like serving perfectly crisp broccoli whenyou're cooking for hundreds of people at the same time.

Had some drinks, spent a little time in the casino, and then spent a lot of time watching the stars from the balcony and saw meteors from the Persieds shower.

Day 2 - Nassau

Normally we love cruises that start and end with a day at sea. Nassau became our "day at sea". We've been ashore there a few times, had nothing to shop for (we were saving our liquor allowance for Cuban Rum), so we stayed on board. Not to mention, it was like 130 degrees in the shade with humidity well over 100% and the sun was only 10 feet from the tops of our heads. This would also be the weather for the rest of the trip, but we knew that going in being it's August. We ate in the main dining room again, and again were happy.

Day 3 - Great Stirrup Cay

On GSC, we got a cabana. These were pretty nice. About 15' square, open at the front (towards ocean) with loungers, high-end plush outdoor furniture, fan, mini-fridge, outdoor shower, hammock, and floating mats. Waiting on arrival is a fruit plate and bottled water, and shortly afterwards they bring around chips and 3 types of salsa - all of which were wonderful. In the cabanas area there's 10 large ones, and about the same number of smaller ones. In the distance you could see where they are constructing additional ones that had air conditioning - these aren't open yet. There was no shortage of drinks either, as they came around often for orders. This was definitely worth the charge. For information, Cabana 1 had its hammock on the side instead of hidden in back. Number 10 is closest to the bathrooms and bar. Can't go wrong with any of them at all though. They

have window openings on the sides and backs with curtains you can close to block sun, and since they are facing mostly north there was shade inside all day. We did some snorkeling, a bit of napping, and were very well taken care of. A perfectly relaxing day.

That night we ate in Il Adiagio. I have to assume they were having an off night - it was the only bad experience we had on board. I NEVER send food back - have maybe done so in a restaurant two or three times in my life and then only for something really bad - but had to this night. I hated having to do it, but then saw the same thing happening at two of the tables next to us. Another 20 minutes for a re-do (main came out 1.5 hours after we were seated), and by then my wife's was cold. I want to assume this was out-of-the-ordinary when the main dining room made the specialty restaurant look like Denny's.

Day 4 - B2B Turnaround Day

Before today, we could never get a real answer on how B2B day worked - so here's how it ends up working if you do it. The night before we got a letter instructing us to meet in Captain Cook's lounge at 10am (when the last of passengers are required to be off) with passports and the new room keys that accompanied the letter. They really do try to make the process as painless as possible, but some things we could tell were not in their control. For this particular trip, we were the only ones doing back-to-back. There was one family that apparently refused to leave the ship - we heard them paged many times between 10 and 10:30. After they were located and sent off, we were taken down to the terminal and walked into CBP area. The officer looked at our passports, possibly grunted, and we were taken back to go aboard. This whole process was only a few minutes. There was a little computer issue with my wife's card which they took care of quickly, then took us back to our room to make sure the new keys worked. We were allowed in the rooms before they were officially opened, and had to wear little tags so we wouldn't get yelled at.

Day 5 - Havana

We woke up just as we were coming into the harbor in Havana. After passing the entrance and forts, there's a large statue Cristo de la Habana (Christ of Havana). It's a replica of one in Brazil. That's the first hint to leave one's preconceptions of "communist" Cuba at home. We had done a lot of research and spoken to several friends and relatives that had already visited, but there were still people surprised everyone wasn't wearing green uniforms and berets. The ship docks right in the middle of colonial Havana. The bow of the ship is maybe 50 feet from a building.

Before I get into the details of our visit, I have to talk about what Cuba "was like". Firstly, I've never been anywhere with a more inviting and warm people then we met here. The feel was much closer to the Caribbean of the past (before big cruise ships), than it is to what we were taught a "communist" country is like. There was a lot of poor areas, but also an unbelievable amount of reconstruction and new construction going on. Things are changing for the better for the people there, and private businesses are everywhere. Unemployment is low, education and healthcare are free. Citizens still get some items that are labeled "rationed", but these items are also readily available in the private markets next to the government dispensaries. There are "State" businesses and "Private" businesses. There was no obvious way to tell them apart, our guide said "we just know". The reception to Americans was great. The people are so proud of their heritage and culture and are anxious to share.

We prearranged a tour with Food Tours Havana (www.foodtourshavana.com). This was by far the best thing we did in Havana. This tour should be required for all visitors. They really concentrate on the history and cultural aspect. We stopped at many places including 4 squares, where the wonderful Yaz told all about the history. We were lucky in that no one else had booked this one, and it was just the three of us for the tour. We met at a restaurant off the largest of the squares, and had a traditional Cuban breakfast - large coffee/cappuccino with toasted buttered bread to dip. We stopped at a cart for churros, a restaurant for Ropa Vieja, beans and rice, and fried plantains. Between stops for churros, lobster enchilado, and ice cream we also stopped at a market and sampled coconut water (Havana Club optional) and fresh fruits from "The Coconut Man". And along the way, as we walked the cobblestone streets, Yaz was able to give a comprehensive history lesson to boot. Cannot say enough good things about this tour.

We also did the ship's tour "An evening stroll in Colonial Havana". If you are thinking of doing this tour, I cannot recommend it. The tour company the ship uses for this just doesn't have their act together yet. From people we talked to and our own experience, private tours people booked far superior than ship's tours.

Notes: Leaving and coming back on board, you have to go through Cuban immigration and you have to have your passport on your person. The first time you go through, they will take your visa and stamp your passport. After you've been through the first time, they only check that you have the stamp in your passport. Don't interpret the cold interpersonal manners of the immigration officials as to what you'll expect once you're outside the terminal. After immigration you go through a metal detector and you are in the terminal. Right in front of you is a huge currency exchange with a dozen booths and little waiting. We had read before we left about exchanging euros for CUC (currency used by tourists in Cuba) instead of using US dollars, due to a surcharge for using US. What we didn't find out until we were there was that going the other way (CUC -> US) there is no surcharge and the rate is better than you get with Euros. Coming back to the ship, you go through scanners, then immigration again before reboarding. Pretty quick process, don't be surprised if the official just looks at you and barely indicates the exit to tell you it's ok.

Day 6 - Havana

We had booked the Classic Car tour through the ship. This tour we really enjoyed, but there's some things to share. The tour is not in a convertible, which for August is a definite plus. Some people complained, as the pictures of the tour on NCL's web site show convertibles. At the start of the tour, you arrive at a parking lot and choose which car you want to ride in. If you do not understand Spanish, talk to the driver first and find one that speaks English. The tour "guide" is split among several cars, so will be with you only a short part of the tour. The real star for us was the driver. When he realized that we could understand him, he literally lit up and was happy to show us sites, and tell us stories and history, and answer our questions. He kept checking we understood what he said (Entiende??) and seemed so happy to be able to communicate with us. Stops included the square where Castro made the famous Speech at Revolution Square. It gave me goosebumps standing in the middle of this square that I'd seen in my school history books. We also visited a famous cemetery (cooler than it sounds), with an estimated million full-time residents. We really enjoyed this tour - but the experience would have been very different if we were not able to interact with the driver.

Back on board time was 4:30p.

We had dinner in Cagney's that night. Since we had breakfast there most mornings, it was nice to walk in be greeted like old friends. This is what a specialty restaurant is supposed to be. Everything we had was on-point, and service was impeccable. I wish we had eaten there at least one other night on our trip.

Day 7 - Great Stirrup Cay

We made this last day of our trip another "Day at Sea". Spent the day relaxing and mostly sitting on the balcony. Borrowing from something we read on another review, we filled the balcony hot tub with cold water and had a nice place to cool off during the day. It was a perfect end to our trip.

Debarkation:

We waited until 9 to avoid Miami traffic (we live a couple hour's drive north). There was a short line getting off the ship, and almost no line at Customs/Immigration.

Note: There's no Global Entry or MyPassport App lines here but it moves way faster than, for example, Miami airport.

That's it...summing it up, we were totally impressed by NCL and totally enamored by Cuba and cannot wait to return.

Thanks for a great review. Glad you enjoyed NCL. Welcome to the club.

That was a great review! Very descriptive and made me feel like walking along with you. You have piqued my curiosity on Cuba and have included it on our bucket list.

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Wonderful review. Thank you for sharing.

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Hello, Thanks for the nice review. Do you know whether Cuban men wear slacks in the evening in restaurants? Do you know if it would be alright for my husband to wear shorts to a restaurant? It will be so hot! Thank you.

Hello, Thanks for the nice review. Do you know whether Cuban men wear slacks in the evening in restaurants? Do you know if it would be alright for my husband to wear shorts to a restaurant? It will be so hot! Thank you.

No, no shorts. We did not see any Cuban men in shorts,

Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to write a review. It was very interesting and enjoyable.

Well done! I appreciate your experience in cruising and thus your very thorough and descriptive review.

Thanks for your review. I really enjoyed it.

Excellent review. Very thorough.

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

Keith

Thanks for all the helpful tips. I sailed on Sky in 2013 and wouldn't hesitate to return.

Heather

We will be doing the same type of back to back next April. I was wondering when do you get your visa? We ordered our through ncl. Thanks for the review!

We will be doing the same type of back to back next April. I was wondering when do you get your visa? We ordered our through ncl. Thanks for the review!

If Cuba is your first trip on the B2B, you'll get them at check-in time. If it's the second trip, you'll get them the night before turnaround day.

Do you which night on the three day Bahamas cruise that they served Prime Rib in the Main Dining Room. I love PR and I want to plan my dinner at Cagneys around it. Thank you in advance.

Thank you for this detailed review. I'm leaving 9/18, but not b2b. You've answered so many of my questions concerns. Glad you liked NCL, you should try some of the other smaller ships.

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Do you which night on the three day Bahamas cruise that they served Prime Rib in the Main Dining Room. I love PR and I want to plan my dinner at Cagneys around it. Thank you in advance.

I'm pretty sure it was the first night of the 3 day. I'd make reservations for multiple nights at Cagney's then check when on board and cancel the one(s) you don't want.

Many thaks for a good comprehensive review. We look forward to stepping on NCL Sky in early October for our cruise to Cuba..

We leave with a group of 26 Oct 23rd. You stated that the exchange rate was better using US dollars to CUC then Euros to CUC? Was it like 1 to 1 exchange? Just wondering.

also, we all are a bit confused on the affidavit we filled out. We were told by NCL to check family visit which we all did but now the information might be we should have checked people to people.

Can you clarify this for me? Also, if we don't book the excursions with NCL and use private ones can we do that ? I am concerned that those might not be correct or legal with US govt...

any information you can give me or suggestions and answers on the Cuban visa affidavit would be greatly appreciated since NCL can't seem to give me a straight answer.

thank you.

Thank you for sharing your review! I just booked the Sky for the 3 day Bahamas at the end of January. My sisters and I (plus our husbands) are taking our mom and stepfather on their first cruise to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. I was worried about the "party atmosphere" a little, but since you said it was better on day 2 & 3, I'm relieved!

I'm in an SE, while everyone else is in Aft Balcony, but we are all 4 in a row. We would have loved to do Cuba, but it's not available in January or February. Oh well, we'll still have a great trip!

We leave with a group of 26 Oct 23rd. You stated that the exchange rate was better using US dollars to CUC then Euros to CUC? Was it like 1 to 1 exchange? Just wondering.

also, we all are a bit confused on the affidavit we filled out. We were told by NCL to check family visit which we all did but now the information might be we should have checked people to people.

Can you clarify this for me? Also, if we don't book the excursions with NCL and use private ones can we do that ? I am concerned that those might not be correct or legal with US govt...

any information you can give me or suggestions and answers on the Cuban visa affidavit would be greatly appreciated since NCL can't seem to give me a straight answer.

thank you.

There is a surcharge on converting US to CUC, which is why it was better to use Euros. Converting CUC back to US does not have the surcharge so that's better to do when you leave Cuba.

You should have checked the people-to-people on the affidavit. I can't imagine it really matters - do you really thing someone from the us govt is going to show up at your door and ask about your trip in the next 5 years?? If you can change it with NCL then I would do that, if not I wouldn't sweat it. The affidavit thing is all US - not Cuba, so it doesn't affect you while you are there.

We booked tours both through the ship and independently. As long as you have some type of documentation (as simple as a "selfie" with the tour guide) that it was a people-to-people interaction you will be fine. But again, I can't imagine we'll ever need to show the documentation.

Thank you for sharing your review! I just booked the Sky for the 3 day Bahamas at the end of January. My sisters and I (plus our husbands) are taking our mom and stepfather on their first cruise to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. I was worried about the "party atmosphere" a little, but since you said it was better on day 2 & 3, I'm relieved!

 

I'm in an SE, while everyone else is in Aft Balcony, but we are all 4 in a row. We would have loved to do Cuba, but it's not available in January or February. Oh well, we'll still have a great trip!

Well, it was a "little" better on days 2 and 3 once the novelty wore off and the hangovers wore on. But it still is a "booze cruise". The huge difference was between the 3 day Bahamas and the 4 day Cuba crowd.

to clarify, doing the B2B you didn't have to pack up and change rooms? just take passport, key, disembark, and get back on with new keys?

to clarify, doing the B2B you didn't have to pack up and change rooms? just take passport, key, disembark, and get back on with new keys?

The night before, the concierge delivered our new keycards, Cuban Visas, and an instruction letter. Also were stickers you should wear after everyone else gets off until they open the rooms up. With those on crew knows why you are still there and won’t question if you just go back to room before they are open to the masses.

If you are in the same room, you don’t pack or anything. Also no customs forms. They had us meet in a lounge, then after everyone else is finally off, they escort you down to meet with immigrations. Then they took us right back on. Immigrations looked at passports, grunted, and we were done. There was a slight delay as the new keycards had a problem, but otherwise I’d say we were back in our room within 15 minutes of leaving the ship.

We just returned from the Cuba cruise on the NCL Sky. I was going to post a review but yours is outstanding! No need to duplicate. We also enjoyed the food tour with Yaz and agree with everything you've said. We were lucky enough to book an Old Car tour with Blexie privately and that was 6 hours of fun and knowledge. I am glad you had a great time and am happy to report that we did as well! Would love to return.