NthernLgts

2 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

I couldn't agree with you more, the crew on the Sky made up for the lousy weather we had the entire trip.  Great crew on board.  

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.

8 hours ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

UGH it's rough and I'm sea sick. 
Just took a zofran so i am hoping it's works. We have dinner plans at catch my rudi. 

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.  

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

What was the problem? Didn't the drinks arrive? Wrong drink? 

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.

5 hours ago, Pinballs83 said:

Based on how busy the non smoking side of the casino is, i'd say they would do OK.  It might depend on the demographic, but I don't think there are many smokers on this trip out of galveston.  I even walked through the small smoking side and it wasn't bad at all compared to my last royal cruise out of florida had tons of smokers.

They should have kept churchill as the smokers lounge with big exhaust fans.  Then make the casino non smoking.  When smokers need a smoke, that lounge is right next to the casino.

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.  

9 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I haven't been on the Sky but on the Enchanted, which is similar, you can occasionally get a whiff of smoke on deck 16 coming from the upper deck depending on the wind currents. It's now often but it does occur every so often. 

Where was it moved to? 

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

On 12/3/2023 at 1:42 PM, kywildcatfanone said:

Well, put me in the non happy with this camp.  On Equinox in October and the smoking area had the walking/running path going right through it.  I would think they could put it away from stuff like that.

On Sky, smoking area is by wake pool, so non smokers using the wake pool have smoke around.

 

All cruise lines should designate a smoking area away from other public spaces 

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.

On 12/3/2023 at 9:25 AM, Cruise Raider said:

It already happened on the Royal and soon to change on the Discovery.  
While some are probably upset about it, I think most people are happy about the change.  It’s obvious to remain or regain profitability, cruiselines are going to have to appeal to new cruisers.  
I feel like it is a step in the right direction.  
 

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.

6 hours ago, Jaymuxman said:

I know someone "that bought into the package" and she says trying to use it has been an absolute nightmare. Hotel rooms are not just any hotel you wish to book but a selective group of hotels and the hotels rooms are not free but just a discounted room. She said she would NEVER do it again. I am not speaking from my personal experience, only what she has related to me.

 

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.

3 hours ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

We LOVED the non smoking Casino on the Majestic on our NYE cruise.  I guess we will be heading back to Celebrity so that we can enjoying our gambling in a non smoking casino.

I say this as someone who has never had any interest in cigarettes and hates cigarette smoke.  I will have an occasional cigar.  In the casino on the Sky the smoking portion was really no big deal to me at all.  I know there were cigarette smokers there, it just wasnt an issue for me.  Literally only 1-2% of the public areas on these ships even allow smoking.

On 3/23/2022 at 5:05 PM, JF - retired RRT said:

That's better than the dress code arguments.😂

Gotta have a little larceny in ya to keep things interesting 😉

On 3/20/2022 at 2:38 AM, cruiser3775 said:

I'm a first time cruiser and this is my first post.  I have just booked on a 12 day cruise on Coral Princess, and I'm sure I'll have more questions that I can't find answers to on this great site, but here's a small one to start with:

Can I make my own coffee in my cabin?  Is there a way to heat water, if I bring the coffee and a coffee press?

We have always brought a small coffeemaker onboard Princess ships to make our own coffee.  This goes back way over a decade for the 1st time and as recently as 3 months ago on the Sky.  The last one we brought was a small 1 cup at a time Keurig. Yes it has an auto-shutoff, but we would not leave a heated appliance like that running continuously anyway.  As a previous poster stated, the Princess suites apparently have pod coffeemakers already in the rooms. 

23 hours ago, MudderBear said:

How much is it?

 

It may vary from ship to ship, but I've seen prices at $115/pp.

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.

4 hours ago, alpha whiskey said:

 

Thanks for responding. Couple more questions for you, if you don't mind.

Were you happy with the cabin they moved you to and did you have a choice of staterooms?

How far in advance did they let you know that they would be moving you?

 

 

 

4 hours ago, alpha whiskey said:

 

Thanks for responding. Couple more questions for you, if you don't mind.

Were you happy with the cabin they moved you to and did you have a choice of staterooms?

How far in advance did they let you know that they would be moving you?

 

 

 

Well, this probably wont give you the warm fuzzies but here's what happened with us.  They moved us up to the Caribe deck.  We were in D441 and wound up in C615.  Technically it was probably a bit of a downgrade, but honestly we didnt even catch it until we boarded.  We were still happy with our cabin.  Ive gone back and looked through my emails and I cannot find where we were even notified in advance of the change.  The only thing that could have happened was our TA was notified but we werent (just a guess).  We did get all kinds of Princess notifications on other things, but I cant find one on the cabin change.  It caused a bit of delay with our luggage too because we checked our bags at the gangway with the old cabin number.  They were delayed about 90 min.  Still, the cabins were very similar & the cruise was fantastic nonetheless.

You may be right.  I wouldnt want the logistical uncertainties cruise lines are dealing with today.  Still, it would be nice to know when the itineraries are coming out as they (and us) still need to make decisions regardless of the issues.

On 3/10/2022 at 11:08 AM, alpha whiskey said:

We are deck 9 aft in August.

Although I am sympathetic to the situation and understand that they want the larger balconies for isolated people to enjoy, I would hope they would give us the heads up sooner rather than later in the hope that there might be a chance of having a better choice of cabin to switch to.

Does anyone know how far in advance they let you know of changes?

 

 

We were on the Sky in December, originally on Dolphin Deck mid ship.  The ship was only at 38% capacity for our cruise.  I believe the entire deck was closed off.

On 3/9/2022 at 9:16 AM, Perky1 said:

I am looking for the March/April 2024 Caribbean itineraries.  Wonder when they will be released.

 

There is a Feb 27,  2023 to the AB (missing the C) on Enchantment.  We booked that one to replace our ABC one.

We had an ABC cruise cancelled as well, we were hoping to hit all 3 spots later this year or early 2023.  Pickings are pretty slim right now.

On 3/7/2022 at 1:44 PM, Torfamm said:

Cigar bars have never been in an open area on any ship I’ve been on. I’ve only seen one behind a closed door. The responsible thing to do would keep all areas smoke free to protect the health of the crew but at least with Churchills or others shipboard bars that allow smoking, non-smoking passengers can avoid second hand (and third hand) smoke. Having a smoking area in the casino is awful.

Churchills on the Sky is 100% behind closed doors, Discovery and Enchanted both are too.

I'm curious to know when the next set of itineraries come out?  Does Princess do this by region?  We booked 2 years ago on a trip to the ABC islands which was cancelled due to covid.  We'd like to do it again.  Right now Princess only has 1 cruise this year to the ABC's, the day after Christmas.  So, is it known when Princess will be updating their Caribbean itineraries?

14 minutes ago, Coral said:

I saw them on my Grand Princess minisuite cabin. Sorry - no photo.

Same on the Sky.

7 hours ago, Purple Gallinule said:

...Also, while on any Princess ship be sure to visit the Future Cruise desk. You can hear their talk and decide if this is for you. We always put out deposit down.

 

Always.  Always.  Always.  The way it works is you put $100/pp down on a future cruise.  You don't have to choose the cruise, but the deposit must be made while you are on board the ship.  From there you have 2 years to book any Princess cruise, and you can book either through a TA or direct.  You then get to book your cruise for that reduced $100/pp deposit, plus you will get a shipboard credit for up to $150/pp depending on length of cruise and cabin type (a standard balcony cabin on a 7 day cruise will get you $50/pp ship credit).  If you don't book a cruise within 2 years you get your money back!

8 minutes ago, RNRcruisers said:

 

I feel like it makes sense in the areas where it is hard to keep distance, like the theater. I don't want to have someone unmasked breathing over my shoulder. 

Right now the sailings are so limited on passengers that crowding in the theater really isnt a thing, but it was an area that the mask requirement was clearly posted.  There was even an announcement in the Princess Theater to that effect.  Attendance for the show we attended was so sparse you almost felt bad for the performer, and the comic show was quite good.