Live from the Sky Christmas/New Yrs

[h-sar]

As has been the norm these past few years, we (DH, and 22 yo DS, 20 yo DD) have escaped Edmonton’s never ending winter for two weeks of sand, sun, and pampering on the beautiful Sky. This time, though, my parents, both siblings and their children have joined us. We will stay on for the New Yrs cruise; they’re all going off in different directions. Our group ranges in age from 11-77.

 

We embarked yesterday to cloudy, rainy weather and the sailaway was moved inside for the first time in my 13 cruises. So disappointing as I was looking forward to having my family experience Princess’ awesome sailaway. The weather definitely took away from the excitement of the typical first day. Hopefully, it will improve soon. 
 

We arrived at the port at 11:45, later than I’d wanted, as the shuttle from the hotel was preceded by the usual mayhem and mass disorganization that accompanies most things in life that are offered for free 😁. But, we’ll do it again next year. Kinda like childbirth...the payoff is so great that one forgets the pain 😆. There was a bit of a line for security, but it was smooth sailing after that...except for the rain. Yup, still bitter this next morning. Haven’t left the cabin yet, so maybe the sun gods will redeem themselves today. It is 7:40 AM. DH left for a workout and the Enclave, and I’m contemplating leaving this amazing Princess bed. Three full hours of wide awake contemplating later (woke up way too early) and I think it’s time to check out more of this beautiful new ship. Cause there’s maybe one more nook or cranny I haven’t seen in the (literally) 1000’s of instagram pics from all the bloggers on the Med preview cruise, the dozens of YouTube videos, and the awesome live threads from our very own CC posters. Thank you particularly to Dides and ColoCruiser - you helped build up my excitement 😊. 
 

See you all in a bit!

[kywildcatfanone]

We are on board as well.  Embarked December 14th for 2 weeks.  Week 1 was very nice, good weather most every day.  

Weather yesterday and today looks poor, so hope it improves.

 

Internet has been awful since yesterday. I've seen the internet manager twice hoping it can be fixed asap.  Was fine last week, not sure what has changed other than younger crowd for this week.

[john_galt]

Please post some pics of the decorated areas! Internet was great when we were on the 12/4 sailing. It dropped a few times but the speed was awesome compared to the bad old days. Enjoy!

[Tak8]

Enjoy your cruise.  I'll be on the Sky next December.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.  

[phabric]

Following along. I was on the Sky in Oct for 2 weeks.

 

What ports are you visiting?

Edited December 22, 2019 by phabric

[hllwdcruiser]

Following. We'll be on in February. Looking forward to your Live From. 

[Colo Cruiser]

Bon Voyage!!

[h-sar]

14 hours ago, phabric said:

Following along. I was on the Sky in Oct for 2 weeks.

 

What ports are you visiting?

Week 1: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, Cozumel. Wouldn’t have minded one less port and one extra sea day 😁

Week 2: Princess Cays, St Martin, St, Thomas.

[Daddysbaby]

Hi H-Sar,

 

It's getting close for me now - just 6 more sleeps - and I will be joining you on the Sky.  I was wondering if you could please report on the Seragasum problem on the beaches of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.  We were hoping to do a beach day on my 2nd week, but it does not look promising.  Also, would you be able to tell me the current price of my perfume, "Miracle" by Lancome?  I'm not sure if I should buy it at the airport or if I should wait and buy it on the ship.  I hope you will be at our M&G on the 30th as I look forward to finally meeting you!!

Warmest Regards,

Sheila

[USCcruisecrazy]

10 hours ago, Daddysbaby said:

Hi H-Sar,

 

It's getting close for me now - just 6 more sleeps - and I will be joining you on the Sky.  I was wondering if you could please report on the Seragasum problem on the beaches of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.  We were hoping to do a beach day on my 2nd week, but it does not look promising.  Also, would you be able to tell me the current price of my perfume, "Miracle" by Lancome?  I'm not sure if I should buy it at the airport or if I should wait and buy it on the ship.  I hope you will be at our M&G on the 30th as I look forward to finally meeting you!!

Warmest Regards,

Sheila

We just returned from the Western cruise on the Sky...there were no issues in Cozumel (did Mr. Sancho's) or Roatan (did a snorkel on Jolly Roger's) with the seaweed...we did not stop at Belize...but Costa Maya was horrible.  The beach we visited (Maya Chan Beach Resort) was covered in the Sargassum grass...made it difficult to even get to the water. 

[AF-1]

Merry Christmas;  glad you are having fun in the sun

[h-sar]

On 12/22/2019 at 9:08 AM, john_galt said:

Please post some pics of the decorated areas! Internet was great when we were on the 12/4 sailing. It dropped a few times but the speed was awesome compared to the bad old days. Enjoy!

 

[h-sar]

As always, Princess has done a tasteful, elegant job of decorating for Christmas 👍🏼

[h-sar]

Double post

Edited December 23, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Sorry about the lack of ‘live’ in the live from yesterday. It’s a little bit different travelling with a larger group. There’s less free time 🙂

[h-sar]

FYI: Embarkation day only elite/platinum discount for two full weeks of unlimited Internet for one device was $89. Great deal.

[h-sar]

Yesterday, the weather until about noon was rainy, cloudy, generally dismal. Did clear up in the afternoon and has been fantastic today. Was over 32°C in Grand Cayman and made up for the last couple of days.

[kywildcatfanone]

IInternet is still bad.  The internet manager doesn't seem to know what to do. 

[h-sar]

We saw rock opera for the first time on embarkation day. Was very surprised but the main production show of the week was on the first night when people are still getting their bearings. However, it was a packed house and probably the best production show I have seen in my dozen cruises. 
 

Just ran into a few of the performers who are working their second job on the ship, in the Internet café. Very odd to see them working two very diverse jobs. They, too, said they were surprised that rock opera was done on the first night. They said the production next week will be slightly different, so I’m looking forward to seeing what that might entail.

[h-sar]

1 minute ago, kywildcatfanone said:

IInternet is still bad.  The internet manager doesn't seem to know what to do. 

yup, hit and miss. Getting a decent connection now, but those pics took about 15 min to load. 

[h-sar]

I have been to the enclave twice a day since I boarded. It is sheer bliss. My husband is still having the same issues that some of you might have read about  in my postings last year and the year before,  in that people are still reserving the tile loungers with their  possessions while they go off to use other parts of the facility. I don’t use a tile loungers, so not a problem for me, but I keep telling him he just needs to move the stuff and put it on a bench. The spa workers really don’t seem to want to manage this piece of the spa. As I’ve said before, chair hogs are something we’ve all learned to tolerate, but when it happens in a facility where you have paid a decent amount of money, it’s hard to tolerate. I go at a time when there is almost nobody else is there, so pretty much have the place to myself.
 

After two cruises with the enclave, cannot ever imagine doing a princess cruise without doing the enclave booking. For one week, the couple’s price was $219 total. I had wanted to use my onboard credit so I did not book prior to boarding, and was able to sweet talk the manager, who we had met on our two previous cruises on the regal, into giving us the pre-cruise online price. Otherwise, the onboard price for the week for a couple was $300.

[Coral]

Thanks for all the updates! Have a great cruise and hope weather cooperates!

[h-sar]

18 hours ago, Daddysbaby said:

Hi H-Sar,

 

It's getting close for me now - just 6 more sleeps - and I will be joining you on the Sky.  I was wondering if you could please report on the Seragasum problem on the beaches of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.  We were hoping to do a beach day on my 2nd week, but it does not look promising.  Also, would you be able to tell me the current price of my perfume, "Miracle" by Lancome?  I'm not sure if I should buy it at the airport or if I should wait and buy it on the ship.  I hope you will be at our M&G on the 30th as I look forward to finally meeting you!!

Warmest Regards,

Sheila

We should definitely meet up next week! 
Will check out the other beaches for any issues.

$97 for 100 ml of the Miracle on board.

[h-sar]

Had the chicken tacos at the Salty Dog for the first time. Chicken street tacos in a grilled corn soft shell. Really spicy kick? Yummmmm! Pretty small, so a nice snack. Two per plate, so careful how you order. Don’t be like me and order 4, not realizing that that gets you 8!
 

Also had the Margherita pizza poolside. Love the Princess pizza. My sister had the new Love Boat, a very small boat of dough with meatballs and cheese in the middle, it was meh. Pretty doughy and she said the meatballs were just ok. Also had the regular burger from Salty Dog. Was very good. Will try the Ernesto one day. 
 

Service on formal night yesterday on MDR was quite slow. Apparently, kitchen was backed up as everyone wanted to in the MDRs on formal night. Took our table of 8 about 2.5 hrs. Was enjoyable, so no complaints from us. Our waiter, Sunil, from India  was very quiet the first couple of nights, but has opened up. Very pleasant and efficient.

 

Almost the entire adult part of the family got together for afternoon tea in the MDR yesterday. We had a very entertaining server who had us in stitches. Always love tea time on Princess. Warm scones and cream 👍🏼. Always makes me feel so pampered. And there’s something about it that connects the Canadian (and Indian) in me to the Commonwealth heritage, LOL. 

[gotta cruise again]

I especially like that you included the Christmas decoration photos—very lovely, thank you.

 

We board 12/28 and I hope maybe they will keep just a little bit of them as they add the New Year’s decor.

 

Hope we’ll get to meet your second week at the 12/30 Meet & Greet!!