J13C85

We sailed in a full suite on Sky w/ the Premier package. We booked (and paid for) our Embarkation Night dinner and our other 2 specialty dining dinners. On embarkation day, we went to the Suite Concierge Lounge and they took care of getting us credited for what we paid (I took it as an OBC and used that to buy DW earrings, lol). By booking ahead we were able to lock in the times we wanted.

So much good advice has been given in this thread. Best advice I ever got came from John Heald when we were on Carnival Splendor. He said (I'm paraphrasing here) "When you are finished unpacking, take all of your stresses and problems from the outside world, pack them in your suitcase, and slide them under the bed. All of those things will still be there for you a week from now. For this week, we have a crew who wants to help you, pamper you and take care of you. Let them do that and you can face those problems and stresses with a brand new perspective." Of course, the next morning all He'll broke loose (google Carnival Splendor Fire). BTW- a piece of non metaphorical advice. Choose comfortable shoes. Do not be afraid to choose comfort over style (thanks to Sheri from CruiseTipsTV)

For some reason these threads tend to get venomous. We sailed in a full suite over Christmas/NY and thought the Concierge was awesome. They did a lot for us (including getting us a bridge tour for my birthday). We thought of their service much like the hotel Concierge (and tipped them the same amount). At the hotel, we tipped the Concierge $100 upon arrival (as most of what she did for us was done pre stay). On the ship, we tipped $100 at the end (along with a hand written note expressing our gratitude). We did not tip per service. Also, we made sure to call out the Concierge team on our post cruise survey. I hope this is helpful to you.

We did our first B2B over Christmas/NY. Here are two things I wished I knew before the trip. First, the MDR menus are the same each correspinding night of the 2 cruises. What I mean is the menu one night one is the same on both day ones. Day two will have a different menu than day one, but it will be the same on the second day two. Tip: if you are doing specialty dining on each leg, try not to repeat the same day. For example, if you have Premier and get 2 SDs per leg (we did) consider doing them on like day 2 and 4 of the first cruise and days 3 and 5 of the second one thus minimizing the repeating nature of the MDR menu. The same can be said of the production shows. In our case, the cruise had the same shows each leg. We saw all thee on the first leg and in retrospect I wish we had spread them out over both legs. Hope this helps and have fun.

We sailed in a full suite on Sky over Christmas/NY. Lunch was served in the Reserve Class Dining Room on both Embarkation days and all 4 sea days. I agree w/OP that lunch menu left a lot to be desired. First, the tacos and burger were better from the grill at poolside (Salty Dig) than the RCDR. The menu was kind if boring, had no real theme and was the same each day. We were told on first embarkation day that concept of menu was to replicate the variety of the buffet. Two of our lunches, I wound up paying extra to get a lobster roll or tenderloin. Honestly, we enjoyed our lunches in Alfredo's more than in the RCDR. While, their menu also didn't change daily, we found more options for items we liked and I didn't need to pay extra (was on Premier Package).

OP stated she had Premier package (as did I). On our Sky cruise we did order room service from the MDR and did not have a $5.00 fee (BTW Georgia from Suite Concierge Lounge placed the order for us). Remember, one of the perks of Premier is the waiving of the $5.00 room service fee (and waiving of the one time Ocean Now setup fee of $14.99). Our advice, work with Suite Concierge Team, be it for Room Service or for times at specialty dining, those people are miracle workers.

We sailed on Sky over Christmas/NY in a full suite. First, items from Crown Grill were available on Room Service menu and these items carried an extra charge. Next, a full suite benefit is free room service from the MDR menu. This does not appear on the room service menu and you cannot order from the app. You can view the MDR menu on your TV and either call in the order or have Igor/Georgia from the Suite Concierge Lounge place it for you. BTW, Concierge Lounge is one of the best suite benefits. On our trip, I placed my specialty dining dinners in advance and paid for them (like you we had Premier). Georgia in the lounge was able to keep our times and get my three dinners refunded (as an OBC).

We sailed on Sky over XMas/NY...I stopped by the FCC area, we started to chat about Nov 2025.He brought up the Princess Vacations offer, I told him I was not interested in that and he immediately dropped it and never brought up that offer with me again. We wound up booking a cruise on Sun in Nov of 25 (BTW got an Owner's Suite for about $1K less than our Owner's Suite on Discovery in Nov of this year). We had no issues and the experience was great. Just a reminder to not paint everyone with the same brush.

We were on a 14D Sky Princess cruise and we won.....bupkis, LOL

We cruised Princess over XMAS/ NY and spent 2 days in Fort Lauderdale Pre Cruise. I am going to give some thorough reviews of some if the places we ate. Hopefully this can be helpful. NIght one we went to Takato for dinner. This is a Korean Japanese fusion restaurant at the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach. We shared a Chef's tasting menu. The way they do it is you advise the server of any dietary needs/issues, discuss preferences (we wound up going about 50% Japanese, Sushi, and 50% Korean, Cooked). and set a budget (we went $100 per person). What followed were 9 courses, served family style including an amazing dessert. We started with Yellow tail in a Citrus sauce. Quite lovely with a nice kick. The next two were Wagyu Beef over sticky rice (one of our 2 favorites from the Japanese side) and a seared Salmon. Sauce on the salmon was nice (not hot) and the greens were an excellent add. Next 2 were our favorites from the Korean Side (Braised Shortrib Tacos) and the Duck Tacos. The shortrib ones were amazing, and the shell was nice and had a little crunch. As for the duck, that is amazing. Usually duck is to "gamey" for me, but everything about this dish was perfect. Wagyu Beef Skirt steak in a chimichurri sauce was so good. It had a little kick (to me) while DW thought is was "zippy but not too hot). Octopus was next. This was different. Flavor was so good with the sauce. My experience with Octopus is it can be to chewy. This was nit the case last night. Last course (before dessert) was a California roll w/crab and topped with scallops. Best roll I've ever had. This was a filling "star of the show" roll. That was until the dessert came. This was a Korean Cheesecake dessert consisting of was cheesecake, condensed milk, shaved ice, graham crackers and strawberries. Combine all this and it tastes like ice cream. This was so good. An amazing experience and our server, Austin, made it even better because he took the time to explain each course to us. This is a great experience and we highly recommend it to anyone cruising out of Fort Lauderdale.

Too late on the drink menus as we are off ship in humid Fort Lauderdale 😀 (there is an art festival on Los Olas today, very nice experience while we wait for our flight) I can tell you that the majority of the drinks are covered by the plus package. That said, we are happy we upgraded. Here is our logic on that. Plus is $60 per person per day and Premium is $80. For 2 people on a 7 day cruise that cost is $280. The extras we used were: 2 Specialy Dining Meals (Value appx $160, $40 pp per meal). Unlimited digital photos (we took appx 57 per week), Waive of the $15 pp Ocean now set up for on ship deliveries (we used this a lot) Waive of the $5 room service charge (again we used this) Reserved searing in Princess theater for production shows (we used this for all three). Truly, the best part of having Premier was we didn't spend time worrying if the little things were covered, they just were. For a 14D cruise, I ended with a bill under $300 and I bought jewelry (earrings from DW from Effy) and way too expensive cologne for me. We've booked Premier on our next 2 cruises.

Today was a quiet sea day. First, huge thanks go to Igor and Georgia from the Suite Concierge Lounge for the magnificent birthday gift. Out of respect I can't go into details, just to say it was one of the better experiences I've ever had on a ship. No new drink today. My last drink on this cruise was my favorite cocktail (has been since I first had one last year) the Dirty Banana and enjoyed it in one of my favorite spots, Vines Wine Bar on Deck 5. Love this spot. This exercise was fun and worthwhile. Before this cruise, DW's favorite Princess Cocktail was the Milky Way Martini and while she still likes that, several of the ones we tried surpassed that one. Her favorites were: 4- 24K Margarita 3- Tiramisu Martini 2- Cranberry Margarita 1- And her new favorite Dunes As for me, there were 2 I tried that I really liked. First, there was the Caribbean Iced Tea. I absolutely loved this because it just tasted like a big glass of pineapple juice. One night I had three of them (only once, lol) and they knocked me on my butt. The second one was the off menu Pina Colada substituting a Peach spirit for the rum. This was great for a super hot day. My sister (the bartender I previously mentioned) has made this in the bar where she works and it has been a big hit. She has also tried replacing the peach spirit with a raspberry one and it's also been big for her. This was fun for me and I appreciate all who followed along. Pics today were from the balcony. BTW @triple7tahoe according to Georgia in Suite Concierge Lounge. Appx 3600 people next week. She said the Christmas and New Year's Cruises are the two busiest of the year. Happy Sailing and please have a Dirty Banana for me, lol.

Today was our last port day, Grand Turks. DW and I never visited this port and we really liked it. The beach is literally next to the port. Within 5 minutes of stepping off the ship we were in the sand taking pics. This port has great energy. To us, this was one of our all time favorite ports. For today's drink of the day I tried the Egyptian Zombie. It was a little sweet but I really liked it. DW had the Monte Chocso and it was just what the doctor ordered. Princess did something extra special for my birthday. I've been asked to keep it confidential and I am honoring that. All I will say is Princess is the best and Igor and Georgia from the Concierge Lounge went way over and above.

@Itchy&Scratchy thank you for the birthday wishes. My sister is a bartender and she said a good Tokyo Iced Tea will taste sweet and the spirits seem hidden. She says the key to a good Long Island is the mix of all the liquors and the coke. She says when done right, it tastes like a strong iced teaand when done wrong.....

Wrong button, more pics