NthernLgts

Thanks, and sorry to hear you had a bit of seasickness. When we were at the Captain Circle party, one of the people sitting at our table had their husband tap out because he was in bed seasick too.

Our cruise was on the 12/09/2023 Sky Princess sailing out of Fort Lauderdale to the Western Caribbean. It was our second time on this cruise on this particular ship. Ports of call were Belize, Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. We were hit by the storm that affected the entire east coast. All in all, we had a really good cruise regardless, even though it was quite wet and the winds were strong. At times the winds were gale force according to the Captain. Seas were between 7 to 10 feet. What made the cruise good despite the poor weather? Ship staff. I continue to be amazed at how well Princess staff does their job and do it with a smile (we actually got our 1st towel animal). When the weather is bad, crew attitude makes a big difference. I won’t go in detail on all of the ports, but suffice to say we love Cozumel (been there 5 times now), but we could pass on Belize. Costa Maya and Roatan fall somewhere in between. What worked onboard? Most everything. All in all the ship was in good shape and ran well, with one exception: The Medallion app (for ordering). The Internet speeds onboard are painfully slow, only 2 Mbps. Ordering anything by the app just didn’t go well for us this trip. We gave up after a couple days as ordered cocktails were never delivered. This was opposite from our experience on the Diamond last year where everything on the app performed generally well. All in all this was still a good cruise. Attitude and patience do play a part, especially in bad weather. A strong stomach didn’t hurt either, especially on this trip. The big thing here though really was the ship staff. Bravo Princess, just keep working on the app performance (and please get rid of those d*mn paper straws).

Sorry to hear youre sick. Cap’n said earlier today weather had gale force winds with 2-3 meter swells. The ice carving on deck 16 was cancelled today & the midship pools were closed too. Its been rockin’ for much of this cruise. We sat with a lady today at the captains circle party whose DH was in bed and motion sick. She won the last bottle of champagne at the drawing & gave it to us.

They just didnt arrive.

We are also on this sailing. As my DW said, this has been a weird cruise. Not necessarily bad, just different. For us this has been the first cruise where we’ve only eaten once in the main dining room. That has never happened as we’ve always eaten there. Perhaps because we’re traveling with another couple? Weather on a scale of 1 to 10 has been a 4 at best, it would’ve been a three if yesterday hadn’t been decent. Lots of rain & wind. Surprisingly, it hasn’t detracted all that much from the cruise. On a positive, I’m always amazed at how upbeat the crew members are. They’re always fantastic. A couple minor issues though. Using the medallion app for ordering drinks has just not worked for us this cruise. We gave up on it after the first couple days. Overall, it’s still been a good cruise though. More later.

That’s a reasonable idea but makes far too much sense for it to actually happen. The arcade is asinine. Still haven't seen one person actually use it.

The wake pool is on deck 16. The smoking area is on deck 17.

The smoking area on the Sky isn't even on the same deck as the wake pool. Ive been on this ship several times, including right now, and have never smelled a cigarette around the wake pool or wake pool bar.

Normally a change that causes anyone not to book is a net negative unless it causes more people TO book. People were already booking knowing Churchills was there. My guess is the use for this will change again at some point because as an arcade there is literally no one there when we’ve checked (we are on the Sky now). A very small arcade next to a casino on a cruise line that doesnt really cater to kids makes no sense.

What we are seeing are three separate hotel credits. One is a 2 night “city stay” certificate. The other is a 7 night “premium stay” certificate. Then there is the $600 Hotel credit (this part I AM discounting completely). I will be honest and say that I am considering this knowing that the $600 hotel credit is probably a minimal benefit if any. I’m going to talk to them again tomorrow, We may wind up being a test case. The one thing and all of this that has been a bit surprising is that booking direct with Princess, at least on this cruise, has been extremely competitive with TA pricing.

We are live on the Sky right now, with a couple we met on our last cruise to Cabo. The four of us are planning a Mediterranean cruise on the Sun next year. Typically do not book direct with Princess, but their new future cruise credit program has us interested. Basically, for $5099 you get $4500 in Princess Cruise Credits, $200 in shipboard credit, a 2 night one city hotel stay, 7 night premium hotel stay certificate, plus $600 in hotel credits. As some of you are no doubt already familiar with this package…. what are your thoughts? Our intent would be to use it next year for the Barcelona to Rome cruise. Overall cruise rates are basically within a few dollars to what our TA quoted. Thanks in advance.

We've never done the Chefs Table Lumiere before but I'd really like to on the Discovery this fall. I understand a reservation can be difficult. For those of you that have done this are there any tips for getting a reservation? Thanks in advance.