MusicalBear

On 3/29/2024 at 5:53 AM, luv2kroooz said:

NCL....No Complimentary Lobster.

If important to you, try Princess, Carnival or Royal. They all serve up decent, not outstanding, lobster for FREE.

I usually cruise Princess but trying NCL because of the itinerary.

Does NCL serve lobster in the MDR?  If they do, what night would it be on a 12 night cruise?

On 3/22/2023 at 6:58 PM, ColdinME said:

I have my sights on Guadeloupe! I was wondering if the driver speaks English. 

 

Thanks,

Lisa

Yes, he speaks English and eager to please.

I have always wanted to swim with dolphins and had eye surgery recently so I can see without glasses so I can do this now.  Which location in Cozumel do you recommend for swimming with dolphins and why?  I just want the best experience.

We had an excellent tour in Guadeloupe with Venaia Tours.  The website is Venaia.com.  Gallien took us to a waterfall, Montebello Rum Distillery, Deshaies Botanical Gardens and to Death in Paradise locations.  The gardens are beautiful.  We were lucky and the “Honore Police Station” was open to visit and we had a drink at Catherine’s Bar.  We also went to the beach where the shack is located but because the show was not filming the shack was not up.  It was difficult place to find a private tour but I hit the jackpot finding Gallien at Venaia Tours.  He was waiting for us when we got off the ship and returned us in plenty of time before sailing.  Payment was made at the end of the tour and it was very reasonable.  He has space for six people in his electric van.   Any  questions feel free to ask.

49 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

I have what you want I think ,it is brown bear face with Captains hat ...no need for postage consider it a gift ...

My user name in lower case at gmail.com

Thank you!  Email sent.

I collected all of the Effy cruise charms on our 10 day cruise but when it came to the last day when they were supposed to give out the Stanley Bear charm they didn’t have it and said they were all gone.  By any chance does anyone have an extra Stanley Bear charm they could send to me?  I will pay postage.  Thank you!

Does anyone know if and when Captain Nick Nash will return to Enchanted Princess?

Does anyone know if and when Captain Nick Nash will return to Enchanted Princess?

Thanks for the info.  It is disappointing to see no Circle Caribbean for January 2022 as that is the itinerary we are booked on for January 2021.  If we need to cancel in 2021 there is no itinerary that interests me for 2022 as we have done all the others.  I picked the Circle Caribbean for St. Vincent as that is the one port we have not visited.  I could possible do the 2/27/22 but it would be during my mother's 98th birthday.

15 hours ago, WatchHill said:

Last November we did pre-cruise at Hyatt Place in Dania, mainly due to the price difference with Hyatt by 17th Street. The location was very good, close to the airport [we rented a car at FLL], lots of new shops and restaurants close by, too. Quite area, we did walk around the general shopping district one evening. Hyatt was clean, good breakfast buffet [be sure to enroll in their member program for free breakfast and daily bottles of water]. Best part, we were never charged for parking unlike hotels along 17th St area. Post cruise we stayed at Hyatt Place by 17th, another good location.

 

Darcy

Thank you.  I chose the hotels in Dania beause the price is a lot lower.

My go to hotel is booked for my next cruise in January, I don't know what is going on but I will keep watching.  I found a good price at the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House in Dania (both the same price) and decided to try one of those if my regular hotel doesn't have any availability.  Any recommendations on which one is better?  I know the Hyatt House has a kitchen in each room, that I don't need,  but is either one in a better location, away from traffic noise or have a better pool or breakfast?  I have stayed in other hotels in that area and the traffic noise by the pool was awful.  I'm trying to avoid that because it just isn't relaxing.  Let's hope our cruises will be going soon and thank you for any information about these hotels.

I have stayed here many times.  Nice pool and nice location along the lake. You don't get the highway noise here because it is away from it.  I have stayed at other hotels  on the other end of the plaza and it was not pleasant sitting at the pool listening to the cars zipping by on 95.  Nice walk to Miller's ( our favorite restaurant) and shuttle will also take you there if they are not busy with airport pickups.  I have tried many hotels in the area and so far prefer this location.  We have walked back from Miller's many times and have never seen any problems.  

Wonderful live thread!!  

Could you please tell me when the second formal night is on the Western part of your cruise?  I know the first sea day is the first formal (except Christmas Day on your cruise) but not sure of when the second one would be with all of the port stops.

Thank you

Wonderful Review!!  I love all of the food pictures.  Can't wait to get on the Sky in a few weeks for our Western Caribbean sailing and try all of the new food items.  I like Princess the best of all the cruise lines but I would sometimes get tired of getting the same food all of the time.  Glad to see they are trying some new items.  I have a great rest of your cruise!

On 11/22/2019 at 2:34 PM, Astro Flyer said:

 

In today’s Patter it shows a Princess Pop Choir sign-up and rehearsal.

Thank you

Thanks for taking the time to do this live thread.  I am really enjoying it!

Do you know if they still have the Princess Pop Choir?  I have participated on previous cruises and I know the friend we are traveling with in January would love to participate.

Thanks for doing this live report.  We sail on the Sly in January and appreciate all of the info before the cruise.  Hope the weather improves, I did see some sun in one of your posts, for the rest of your cruise.

10 hours ago, jeanandjim said:

Well, after a couple of very long port days, I have finally got some time to report on the music venues of the Sky Princess.

 

Take five has twelve seats for 2, mostly against the windows. There are also six 4's, and three 5's. There are also twelve individual seats surrounding the performance area if you want to be intently entertained by the jazz. The bar has 10 stools for a total seating capacity of 85. This venue is strictly jazz entertainment, and so far has been very good, if poorly attended. We have had some tiring days so maybe once we head out on the T/A, attendance will improve. I have not noticed any smoke issue from either the casino or Churchill Lounge.

 

The Piano bar looks like it will be the new Crown Grill Bar. There is limited seating for 2, maybe 4 individual spots scattered throughout. There are plenty of couch/chair type areas that will seat 4-5 or 5-6. 6 bar stools for a total seating of around 66. I have not spent much time here, but it looks little crowded as I pass through after late seating. I will try to get a better in-person experience in the next couple of days. 

 

Jim😎

Thanks for your take on Take 5.  Since jazz is my favorite type of music I am looking forward to this area on our cruise in January.  What instruments make up the jazz band?

Thank you for an excellent "live from"  review of Sky Princess.  It made me even more excited about our cruise in January.

First let me say that I really like to book private tours but some locations I just feel safer with a ship's tour.  We're going to Belize and I wanted to go to Lamanai Mayan Ruins.  It is a little bit of a ride from port and I have never been to Belize before so I booked the ship's tour.  Because I like to research everything I started to look for a private excursion to Lamanai.  I found one at half the price of the ship's tour.  I submitted the Best Price Guarantee paper work to Princess and it was approved.  I ended up with $81 extra OBC pp for our cruise.  That will buy a few extra drinks!!  After having success with this excursion I booked one in Grand Cayman also at half the price and now I won't have to wait for a tender.  This is the first time I have tried the Best Price Guarantee.  I may do it again but I do like the personal attention and the better itineraries on private excursions.

On 7/30/2019 at 8:05 AM, crewsweeper said:

First, I think you have the distances reversed.  Altun Ha is the closest.  Very "manicured", excavated.

You can do the ruins easy enough via private vendor or even a taxi and DIY.   The tour via River Wallace is an interesting way yo get there as you may see wildlife and certainly get to see countryside versus city side.

 

Lamanai is a lot further away. And can easily take up a whole day to get there and back, especially via water and then transfer to jeeps or ATVs to get to the ruins.  These are more "significant" than Altun Ha and are less excavated.  A bit more "Indian Jones" feel to go there.  If this interests you, then by all means do the Lamanai via a ship. There are posters here that have done it via private vendors for cheaper than the ship excursions and have made it back to the dock in time for the last tender.  But IMO it is a risk. 

Thank you for the info  I meant the cruise to Lamanai is about 30 minutes and the river cruise with Altun Ha is 2 hours.  

I can't decide which Maya ruins tour to take, either Lamanai or Altun Ha with a river boat tour.  I have a lot of OBC so I am thinking of doing the tour with Princess because of the distance.  Both tours include a river cruise, Lamanai  is about a half hour and the Altun Ha is 2 hours.  Lamanai includes lunch.  I will also look into price matching with a private company.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Thank you.  This will save me some work.

I was wondering too if they have announced any winners.  I have a photo on the Royal and when we sailed on her I booked a room across from my photo.  I have a cruise booked for January on the Sky and am hoping I will get to see my photo.  If anyone hears anything please post here.  Princess did let us know if we had a picture selected for the Royal.