karatemom2

Sea Days, High Seas, Midnight Sun, and Fine Dining: After three consecutive port days we were really looking forward to a couple of sea days as we headed north into the Arctic Circle. Our captain, the wonderful Commodore Nick Nash, issued a warning that we were in for fairly rough seas ahead due to some stormy weather and advised everyone to batten down the hatches and watch their step around the ship. As he so put it in such a lighthearted way, we were going to be a bit “roly poly”. Now, personally, I love high seas. It makes me feel more connected to the fact we are far out at sea and the rocking and rolling is soothing. The higher the seas, the better I sleep! Given that we were at the bow of the ship, it truly was pretty sensational for about a day and a half as we passed into the Arctic Circle. I felt for the people onboard who suffer from sea sickness. There were a few unhappy people, but overall, it seemed most of the passengers weathered it quite well and Commodore Nash kept us all updated. We of course didn’t spend a lot of time on our forward-facing balcony during this rough patch, but there was never a moment when we couldn’t go out for a short time before getting too cold and windblown. I managed to get a few photos of the choppy seas ahead. We enjoyed relaxing days, played a bit of trivia, went to afternoon tea and just lounged. We dressed up again for our second formal night and made a stop at the Elite cocktail hour in the Vista Lounge on our way to dinner – I enjoyed my favorite, the Deep Sea cocktail, and DH had the Port Lemonade. It was a particularly nice spread that evening – my favorite was the breaded shrimp – Yum! Our dinner was especially good – I broke away from my fish choices and enjoyed the Beef Wellington. It was fantastic – best I’ve ever had on any of our Princess cruises. So tender you could cut it with a butter knife! And of course, Bananas Foster for dessert is always a win! We also enjoyed a meal at Crown Grill on our next sea night – again really excellent. We were somewhat disappointed with our last dinner at Crown Grill on Discovery in January, but everything this time was delivered to perfection. The French Onion Soup was divine, my filet was cooked perfectly, our sides were delicious, and the service was wonderful. We were treated to this dinner by the Casino, and we discovered when we arrived that they had actually scheduled it for the following night which wouldn’t work for us due to our port plans. They were so accommodating about working us in and seating us, even though we showed up on the wrong evening. Such excellent food and service! As we continued north, the weather improved and we were able to enjoy the midnight sun as we traveled on towards our next port of Honningsvag, the most northern stop on our trip. We also got our certificates showing that we had officially become part of the Arctic Circle club, although there was no special ceremony. The certificates are a nice keepsake though! Next: Honningsvag and North Cape

Here is a thread that includes a photo of the menu. It's always the same menu each night. My favorite is the Deep Sea. DH likes the Port Lemonade.

Geirangerfjord: This was one of the days I was most excited about. Geirangerfjord is a UNESCO World Heritage site, home of the Seven Sisters waterfalls, and when my DH showed it to me on videos before we booked this cruise, it was one of the things that convinced me I had to go to Norway. This is especially true now that within a year, most large cruise ships will not meet the new environmental requirements to operate in these areas, so time was of the essence. Seeing it in person exceeded every expectation and truly highlighted why Norway is known as the land of waterfalls. We entered the fjord very early in the morning and made a brief stop midway at a town called Hellesylt just to drop off passengers doing a specific Princess tour from that location. I was up early and out on the balcony taking in the incredible views of towering cliffs and waterfalls. We reached Geiranger at Noon where we had originally been scheduled to use the port’s special Sea Walk gangplank that connects to the ship. Unfortunately, early weather forecasts predicted high winds for the afternoon, so port authorities made the decision to cancel the Sea Walk, which meant the team onboard had to scramble to switch over to a water shuttle service. Some people were quite unhappy and impatient because it did cause delays, but I think the staff on the Sky really did a great job pivoting and trying to get everybody off as soon as possible. Ironically, the winds never really materialized, so it probably would have been fine to use the Sea Walk but understand the need to be make safety the top priority. This was the other port where we had a Princess excursion booked. Since our meeting time wasn’t until 2 p.m. we had originally planned to walk off the ship and maybe have lunch and a little explore on shore, and then come back onboard to meet for our tour. But given the change to a tendering situation, we opted just to eat lunch onboard and then head for our tour meetup in the dining room. The tour we had scheduled is called the Herdal Summerfarm, Eagles Bend, and Scenic Drive. We drove up the scenic Eagle Road, with its hairpin turns to the overlook for the most incredible views of the fjord below. We then proceeded on to two different farms – the first high atop the mountains that has now been transitioned into a café and inn where we enjoyed a tour, incredible views, and traditional Norwegian pancakes with butter and sugar, or with the local brown cheese. The owner was the 13th generation to live on the farm that his family had owned for over 400 years. He was so welcoming and gracious. What an incredibly beautiful place – although his description of the winters definitely provided another perspective on the realities of living there. Our next stop was the herdal goat farm where I got to live out my “Heidi” dreams as we interacted with and fed the goats, and met the owner and his wife who produce a variety of goat cheeses, including the brown cheese we had sampled earlier. We got to tour the farm and see a demonstration of the very tedious process of creating the brown cheese from the whey of the goat’s milk – and then time for more samples and buying some to bring home. Unlike our tour the previous day, this one went off seamlessly and was worth every penny. And thanks to the fact we were with a Princess tour we didn’t worry at all that we were getting back late to a tendering deadline. We ended up being on the second to last shuttle back to the ship, with basically only crew following behind us. We opted to skip dinner in the dining room this evening because we wanted to enjoy every second of the trip back out of Geirangerfjord. It is almost hard to comprehend the jaw dropping natural beauty in every direction. After we moved out of the fjord, we headed up to the buffet for a light meal and DH headed to the Casino for his nightly fun while I watched a movie in the cabin and looked forward to the two relaxing sea days ahead. Next: Wild Sea Days and Arctic Circle Ahead

Sognefjord and Flam: I was so excited to sail into our first fjord on the way into the port of Flam. I was up bright and early out on the balcony enjoying the views. We only booked two Princess excursions for this cruise and our Flam port day was one of them. It was an extended tour that took us to Voss and then two train rides back, one from Voss to Myrdal, and then from Myrdal to Flam on the famous Flamsbana railway. Originally when I booked online it was scheduled to run from 8:45 to 3 p.m., but imagine my surprise when we got our tickets with a letter explaining that due to scheduling issues our time had been moved up to 7:30 a.m. and our tour would be ending at 12:30 p.m. So now a 6 hour tour was suddenly only 5 hours long. But I was still very excited to do the tour and get into the countryside to see the beautiful scenery around Flam. And it certainly was beautiful. As we sailed into the port it was like looking at a painting. We reported promptly to the Soleil dining room where our tour was gathering and were soon escorted to our bus. Our first stop was supposed to be the small town of Gudvangen, but due to the early hour absolutely nothing was open. Things don’t tend to open until at least 10 a.m. in Norway ports we discovered, even with a ship in town. So, we only passed through on our way to what would become our first stop at Tvindefossen waterfall. This stop really made up for some of the initial disappointment as it was one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen, and you were able to walk right up to it. We were given a good amount of time here, which I appreciated. But again, due to the early hour, the small souvenir shop and promised bathrooms there were not open yet. People were beginning to grumble. We headed on to Voss which is a very charming town. We were supposed to have 45 minutes here but were informed we only had 30 minutes and again, virtually nothing was open except for a small supermarket and gas station with a coffee shop across the street from the train station. At least we finally got access to bathrooms in the train station, but the lines were long. There was a very pretty church there next to a lake that we were able to photograph, but very quickly we had to be going to our platform to catch our train. It all felt very rushed. The train ride from Voss to Myrdal was exceptionally beautiful and relaxing. And then we changed trains in Myrdal for the final ride into Flam with a brief stop at Kjosfossen Falls, the famous waterfall where Huldra performs at the castle on the hill. Our groups were in the last two cars and our guide encouraged us to move fast as we only got 10 minutes at this stop, which actually turned out to be more like 5 minutes because it took time to exit, run all the way down to where the falls were visible and then run back. This was disappointing because it was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have taken it in for more than a few moments and seen the Huldra sing her song. But I did at least get a few good photos. Back on the train, we continued through such beautiful scenery that it mostly made up for many of the small disappointments along the way, but when we pulled into the station at 11:40 a.m. and realized that a 6 hour tour had now become a 4 hour tour, I was really kind of annoyed given how expensive this excursion had been. But we made the most of our extra time exploring the small area of Flam at the dock and enjoying a waffle and hot chocolate, taking a nice walk along the waterfront, and doing a bit of shopping, Back on board, I couldn’t shake a nagging sense that we didn’t really get what we had paid for, so instead of just letting it go, I decided to send a crew chat outlining my concerns and noting what had been eliminated from the promised tour outlined on the Princess excursion site. I was super impressed that I got an almost immediate response from Guest Services promising that she would share my concerns with the Shore Excursion department and ask them to follow up. I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one complaining as we did hear others expressing similar concerns. I was pleasantly surprised when we got a phone message from the Excursion department the next day informing us that due to the issues we experienced they would be crediting us back with a 25% discount that would go on our account as onboard credit. I felt this was a very fair and appropriate response and was pleased with the outcome. Overall, even though the tour didn’t quite live up to expectations, we still enjoyed much of it and were very happy with the resolution offered. We enjoyed a beautiful sail away through the fjord on our balcony that evening, heading on to our next fjord and port. Next: Geiranger

Not sure where it is on the Emerald at the moment, but last time we sailed on her it was in Skywalker's Nightclub. On our more recent cruises on the Sky, it has been in the Vista Lounge. It is basically a cocktail hour with reduced price drinks and a small buffet of light bites. Generally, starts at 5 p.m. and you can just walk in and help yourself to the nibbles and order an $8 cocktail. There is a limited menu of cocktails available, but several are quite good. We enjoy it as a predinner stop some evenings.

We are just off the 6/15 cruise on the Sky as well, and our laundry service was so great this trip. We sent a bag almost everyday, and in almost all cases it was returned by the next evening. Only on one day did it take two days to come back. We found the food, service, and overall experience really wonderful - and the itinerary was amazing!

Haugesund: Our first Norway port was Haugesund, and the day started off well. Cool, but overall nice weather. As I mentioned, we had a great roll call – lots of shared excursions planned and today was one of them. A member of our group arranged a small group tour with Viking Adventures that picked us up promptly at the ship and we set off to see some of the highlights of the region. This included the Copper Mines at Visnes, the place where it is said that France got the copper for the Statue of Liberty, hence the small reproduction there. We then stopped at Åkrasanden known as the most beautiful beach in Norway. It was stunning – freezing cold, but beautiful with the softest sand and clear waters and small seashells everywhere. This was followed by a visit to the quaint fishing village of Skudeneshavn, also known as the White Lady due to all the old houses being painted white. It is a historic landmark and so beautifully maintained. We had time to walk the narrow streets, visit the museum, and pick up a cinnamon bun at the tiny local bakery. Finally, we visited St. Olav’s church at Avaldsnes, an ancient church that sits next to a needle shaped monolith, the only one remaining of what used to stand around the area of the church. It is leaning toward the building, and legend has it when it touches the building, that will mark the end of time. I must say it’s looking uncomfortably close! The grounds are beautiful and we ran into our first free roaming goats who were quite friendly. But then the weather took a sudden turn. Black clouds rolled in so quickly and the skies literally opened up and poured on us. Thankfully this was our last stop on the tour, and we were getting ready to re-board the van. But that pretty much ended our day. We had planned to walk into town and do a bit of touring on our own there in the afternoon, but it was raining cats and dogs. The poor people from the ship who were walking back were absolutely soaked. The tour was great though, and we felt like it provided a nice first exposure to Norway and its culture, so we were satisfied to take our wet selves back to the ship and spend a nice afternoon, warm and dry enjoying the onboard atmosphere and another great dinner that evening. Next: Sognefjord and Flam

I think the confusing thing is for those who are used to getting Casino deals, there is a precedent in the past with Princess throwing in the package on certain promotions. So it is reasonable that someone could see that and think it is part of the Casino perk for that particular sailing. They have a bunch of different packages going all at once, and some of the vary from sailing to sailing, so I was definitely thinking it was part of the benefit. Of course, had we booked I would have double checked, but I don't think based on past history of getting the benefit free before from the Casino it was unreasonable to assume that might be the case here.

Embarkation and first sea day: Our taxi arrived right on time at 10:15 a.m. Just a note that these small inns in the UK rarely have elevators – so be prepared if you want the charm to trade that for lugging suitcases up and down stairs. We managed fine, but it might be difficult for some people. Both inns did offer to assist if we needed it, so there usually is help available, but we were fine. We hopped in our taxi and were at the port by 10:30 a.m. departing from the QE II terminal, same as last year. It was super easy – we dropped our luggage on the conveyor belt, whisked through security, and were checked in and on the ship in 5 minutes. We did get our medallions in advance which saved time, but it appeared that the line for people picking up was moving quickly as well. We found a nice spot in the Piazza and settled in with a refreshment and snack since we skipped breakfast at the hotel. While we waited, we both watched our safety videos. As soon as the clock hit Noon, we headed to the dining room for our traditional embarkation lunch. I had my favorites – the chickpea soup and spinach ravioli, and DH stuck with the Antipasti plate, and beef tenderloin. It never disappoints. We finished it off with the souffle and headed to our cabin as they had just announced rooms were ready, stopping at Princess theatre on the way to complete our Muster process. Our bags were at the door when we arrived. Our cabin was M103, one of the forward-facing balconies we have grown to love on the Royal class ships. We were especially excited to have this for all of our scenic viewing opportunities in the fjords and it was the best decision. We managed to get the very last one available when we booked, and I can’t even begin to describe how much having that space and panoramic view added to our enjoyment. And to make it even nicer, somehow, we ended up with one of the nice wood tables and wood end tables to go with our chairs. I had preordered 24 waters which had been delivered to our cabin and the certificates were there for our three canned beverage packages and our balcony dinner. We had only been in our room about 10 minutes when room service called to confirm the date and time for our dinner, as well as our cocktail and menu choices. While I had them on the phone, I ordered the diet cokes with our beverage package, and requested a switch out of our Elite mini bar for soda and water as well. We really don’t drink much at all, so we don’t do the package, but preordering the sodas and waters ensures we have cold drinks available in our fridge all cruise. In total, we had a couple of cocktails over the course of the cruise, and I ordered wine with dinner a handful of times, so a good decision for us. We also snuck this Wi-Fi purchase for this cruise in right before they raised the prices, so still got the half price of $7.50 per day. It came right up on Medallion Net and worked wonderfully the entire cruise. I had no problem checking in with work and monitoring my emails. I guess I can tolerate paying more going forward if the service stays this good on future cruises. We unpacked and rested up and enjoyed a beautiful sail away out of Southampton before heading down for our standing 6:20 pm dinner reservation at Soleil. Our hope was to find our same two top table in the back with our same wait team from last year and reserve that for our cruise again. The good news was our table was still there, and they kindly reserved it for us for all of the other nights. It was a new wait team, but Sandy and Charlotte were wonderful and provided outstanding service. I was determined to eat more healthfully this cruise, so pretty much stuck with a single appetizer and fish dishes most evenings, and usually left part of my dessert on my plate. As it turns out we did so much walking I ended up losing a few pounds! But the food was really excellent all two weeks, with the exception of only one dinner where my fish was pretty dry and overcooked. There was a hypnotist show the first evening – just ok. He was really struggling to get people under, and it was pretty clear a few were faking. I honestly felt bad for him. Not sure embarkation day when people are jet lagged and tired is the best night for this effort. After, I headed up to relax and DH headed to the Casino to get the dice rolling and introduce himself to the host. All around a great first day! Day two, we lost an hour and, in our jet, lagged fog, we didn’t realize our phones weren’t updating while on airplane mode so we missed our 11 a.m. Meet and Greet with our roll call, which was disappointing because it has been a fabulous group. But we ended up meeting many of them onboard over the next two weeks anyway. The MDR lunch menu was not spectacular, and DH wasn’t too hungry as he caught a late breakfast at the International Café, getting his favorite, the egg bites. Very good for his low carb diet! We just grabbed a snack up at the grill and buffet and then went to tea at 3 p.m. It was as good as I remember from our previous Southampton trips – definitely they do a better job with the quality of the tea on these UK trips. We hit up a couple of trivia’s but quickly realized we were going to be at a big disadvantage due to the nearly 500 B2B cruisers onboard. People were consistently getting 100 percent, which raises a few eyebrows knowing the questions likely don’t change from trip to trip. As usual, though I do love the Sky, Princess Live was often full to overflowing and hard to get a seat for many of the popular trivia’s and games. I did manage to trip and fall on one of the steps and completely embarrass myself, fully bruising my dignity, but thankfully nothing else. It is a poorly designed venue and I do always miss the Explorer’s Lounge! Tonight was formal night, and since we still make an effort – DH put on his suit, and I got out my sparkly blouse and velvet pants. We were looking sharp! Dinner again was excellent, and we were already loving our new servers. We went to see Rock Opera in the theatre, even though we have seen it several times before – it is always enjoyable and Max Himmelreich is the best tenor in the fleet. So incredibly talented! It was time for DH to get in is Casino time and for me to pull a few zzzz’s before hitting our first port the next day. Next: Haugesund

Wow, we were looking at options for next summer and saw this too and we assumed it was part of our Casino promotion. Very confusing indeed!

Just returned from our amazing bucket list 14 day Norwegian Fjords and Land of the Midnight Sun cruise on the Sky Princess. I’m sure there is no such thing as a perfect cruise, but this sure came close. I opted not to do a live thread because I really wanted to focus my time and energy on enjoying every second of the cruise, but now that we are home, I will share a review of our trip and be happy to answer any questions that I can about the Sky or the itinerary. So much to share! I’m going to break this down over a series of posts to make it a little easier – on you to read and on me to type! Pre-cruise stay in Portsmouth/Southampton: This is our third consecutive summer taking a cruise out of Southampton – a port I have grown to love! We live in the greater Los Angeles area and took a direct overnight flight again this year with Virgin. It was great – I really enjoy flying with them and find their service excellent. The overnight flights from LA work well for us as we sleep on the plane and then hit the ground running when we arrive in the UK to counter the jet lag. This year we decided to spend a couple of days in Portsmouth taking in the Maritime History there. We were picked up by our Blackberry car service and delivered directly to our charming BnB – the Florence House Boutique Hotel which is a grouping of hotels in several old Victorian buildings in Southsea. It was as lovely and quaint as it appeared in the photos and the staff was so nice, and the restaurant on site provided wonderful breakfasts. I had a combination of Avocado toast with poached egg and the Greek yoghurt with granola and honey each day, and DH tried to different versions of the Eggs Benedict. Everything was delicious. We jumped right in soon after arriving and settling in our room, taking a long wander around Southsea, by Southsea castle and the D Day Museum to one of the two recreational piers locally. Since it was midweek, the pier was fairly quiet, but we launched our vacation with fish and chips at Deep Blue – Great British Fish and Chips. It was yummy and a nice way to start our trip and then we headed back for a great night sleep out our hotel. The next day was a full day of sight seeing in Portsmouth, focused primarily on the ships and museums at the historic dockyard. We bought the combined ticket which gave us access to all the attractions, including our top priorities – the Mary Rose, HMS Warrior, and HMS Victory. We spent the better part of the day here touring each of these and the museums and really enjoyed it immensely. For me, the Mary Rose Museum was absolutely the most fascinating – seeing it as it looks pulled from the sea and also all the incredible artifacts they have recovered from the time of Henry VIII. I found it to be on of the best museums I have visited and was so grateful to the incredible docents who really take time to talk to guests and provide incredible context and knowledge. My DH loved it as well, but for him the HMS Victory was the favorite – even though at 6’7” tall, he smacked is head at least a dozen times navigating the low ceilings and tight passages. It was really quite amazing to stand right in the spot where Lord Nelson was shot and where he took his last breaths. The HMS Warrior was also very interesting and worthwhile to tour, especially given that since it has barely been used it is so well preserved. The performers there added a sense of the reality of the times. After touring the museums and ships, we walked over to the Spinnaker Tower and took the elevator to the top for an afternoon snack – the tea service looks lovely there – I just got a single scone, but if we ever go back, I will invest in the full tea in the clouds service. The views are amazing! We enjoyed a nice dinner in town and headed back to our hotel for our last night before transitioning to Southampton. Originally, we had planned to stay all three nights in Portsmouth, but when we discovered that the West End tour of Wicked was at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, we decided to get tickets and move over there for our last night before the cruise. We have seen Wicked a few times in LA, San Francisco, and London, but we loved seeing it again with the absolutely stellar cast! We Ubered over to Southampton after our breakfast and went directly to our hotel there – the Elizabeth House Inn. It was very charming, and our room was beautiful with an amazing bay window and tiffany chandelier. Not an issue for us, but for those traveling by car to the port, this hotel offers a car park for cruise passengers which it seemed many people were using. We requested that reception schedule a taxi for us at 10:15 a.m. the next morning, and we slept soundly in our comfortable room dreaming of our upcoming cruise. Next: Embarkation and first days

Depends on how it is sold - if it is back to back, they repeat the same menus second week generally. It it is truly a 14 day cruise, like the Sky cruise we just took, there is a new menu each of the 14 nights.

Just want to say that YMMV by ship on the quality of afternoon tea. On our cruises from Southampton we have found it overall quite good. The sandwiches and sweets are better. They even had little traditional Victoria Sponge Cakes each day. The scones are warm and flaky, and they serve both clotted and whipped cream with the jam. But we have also never been disappointed by the tea service on any of our Princess cruises. We always request a table for two - no problem at all. You do not have to sit at a communal table unless you want to. And DH always orders his preferred orange tea and they bring him his own pot - no trouble or disruption at all. Yes, it is not a traditional afternoon tea with the tiered stand, but all components are there - sandwiches, scones, sweets. You can even do it yourself in the buffet if you like. I love that Princess keeps this tradition going and we always find it very enjoyable. On most sea days I opt to do tea instead of lunch.

What ship are you on? We just finished 14 days on the Sky and French Onion soup was still an option every night on the menu.

You do not need reservations for Afternoon tea, nor does the system provide an option for that. Afternoon tea is free and strictly walk in - usually scheduled for around 3 pm on sea days in one of the midship dining rooms. There is always space and the experience is lovely. One of the best long standing Princess traditions. The only tea that would require a reservation is the special Royal Tea that is only available on a few ships that involves an added charge. It is a bit more upscale and uses an assorted tea collection and includes some added desserts and champagne. We did it on the Royal and it was nice, but for the price I didn’t find it all that much better than regular afternoon tea. If that is offered on your ship and you are interested, you would need a reservation and space is limited as they hold it in an area of the Piazza near the International Cafe

We live in the greater LA area and have done a number of cruises on Discovery and other Princess ships out of San Pedro during Spring. While the week you are onboard may not coincide with many college spring break schedules, because it is the week prior to Easter it will have a lot of families onboard which should be good given the age range of your group. Lots of the elementary and high schools in Southern California time their Spring break around Easter - week before is common. So I imagine there will be a busy schedule for all the kids onboard and some special activities put forth by the kids club. Also, given it’s a Coastal cruise and not Mexican Riviera you will find it family friendly for sure. You tend to find more of a party and drinking crowd (for Princess) on the Mexico itinerary- and even then it’s mild by comparison to other lines. California is beautiful in the Spring. You will love it!

That is such a lovely thought. My daughter is all grown up now but we cruised with both our kids all while they were growing up and I remember when my daughter was a preteen/young teen loving doing special things with her. However, as has been pointed out the spa and salon on Princess are ridiculously overpriced, just ok in terms of services, and not super younger person friendly. Here are some things we did that cost nothing in most cases just to give you some potential other fun ideas : Afternoon Tea - we would go together often as a special Mom, daughter activity. Our boys weren’t interested so something we could do together just us girls. Production Shows - My daughter is a theatre girl so we would often go to some of the shows onboard, just the two of us. Trivia - we would always scout out the trivia’s that might have more movie, pop culture, Broadway, or for my son history. Both kids had fun actively contributing answers, especially on topics they knew more about them Mom and Dad. Shop Charm bracelet promotions - Shops onboard often has a promotion where you can show up at events during your cruise. It’s a promo gimmick to get you in the shops to buy things, and you need to buy the bracelet that holds the charms but it’s super inexpensive. We have several we collected together over the years and it was a lot of fun. Scavenger hunts - some of the ships do scavenger hunts - we are just off the Sky and they had a running one on sea days. Again, boys weren’t interested - they were focused on paper plane or egg drop challenge, but daughter and I had fun doing them together. Ladies Pamper party - if your ship does this, definitely take your daughter. It’s basically a one hour free spa promotion where they demonstrate a few products on you in a “do it yourself” fashion. Again, sales promo but you don’t have to buy and you and daughter can have fun trying it out together. Even better, it is totally free. End of Cruise clearance bazaar - not all ships always have this, but when they do it’s usually the last sea day from like 10 am to 2 pm and they pull out all the old inventory and lots of it include very inexpensive and fun little things like purses, jewelry, etc. We would always go and scout out something fun for her to buy. Lots of stuff in the $10 to $30 range. It was fun just digging through all the “treasures”. In room primping afternoon - usually on formal nights we would spend some time together in the afternoon helping each other get prettied up for the evening - nails, curling hair, makeup, dressing up together which was just as fun as the salon and free! Hope this helps give you some ideas. I bet you will find lots of ways for special Mom and daughter fun!

We are just getting off the Sky today after two weeks onboard. We sent laundry nearly every day and it never took more than 2 days - usually it was one day. And nothing came back bleached, shrunk, or damaged in any way. Just wonderfully clean, pressed, and ready to hang up in our closet. While mileage may vary from ship to ship, overall we have had fantastic experience with the Elite laundry service. It’s an amazing benefit and I am very appreciative of this loyalty perk.

It’s an amazing experience. We happened to go on a formal evening. So our fellow diners were all dressed up. It’s a special evening, so my advice would be to wear what you would to a nice, upscale restaurant at home. Enjoy!

My comment was referencing that the sticker on the door, at least in Sky Princess, no longer has the former statement. The message has changed. There is still the sticker on the door that I show in the photo. It’s small and doesn’t really impede the view. We keep our door open most of the time.

We are currently in M103 on Sky Princess and those stickers are no longer on the door. We LOVE these forward facing cabins - truly just great. Having this cabin for viewing as we have just cruised through the Norwegian fjords has been such a gift. There has only been a couple of days where the weather was stormy that the balcony wasn’t usable, and even on those days we could still go out on the balcony, it just wasn’t too comfortable to stay out there. But we have literally used our balcony every single day - no worries about open doors or lights or curtains. We have been, after all for a few days in the land of 24 hour sunlight. We have had these forward facing cabins on Lido and Marina several times over the past few years and enjoyed them fully each time. We did the balcony dinner last night as we cruised the fjord out of Olden It was spectacular!

We don’t buy the packages. Not a good investment for us. But we like to have sodas and water in our stateroom cold in the fridge throughout our cruise so, like the OP, we preorder the very reasonably priced canned soda and water packages which are delivered to your stateroom at embarkation. Very cost effective and convenient!

The cruise has been spectacular! I’ll do a full review when I get home. Sorry, I can’t really help on the choices as the only thing we requested was Diet Coke. I will note though that they fulfilled the order with Coke Zero instead which I don’t like as much. They replaced some with Diet Coke at my request but were apparently running out and now all we can get onboard is Coke Zero. Seems to be the dominate option here in Norway.

We are on the Sky right now so I can share how it worked for us. We ordered three of the six packs. When we arrived to our cabin on embarkation day there were three certificates, one for each package. We simply had to call room service to inform them what we wanted and we requested our Elite minibar switch out at the same time. We also ordered the bottled water package and that was already delivered and waiting for us in our cabin.

Yes, we did it on our own. Just pre purchased tour tickets online in advance and Ubered over.