Live from the Sky Christmas/New Yrs

[h-sar]

On 12/24/2019 at 9:11 AM, GOODIES said:

Please find out what the obstruction is for deck e 410

 

we board in Feb

thanks

 

As was mentioned earlier, you’ll be looking down into Le Mer’s outdoor seating. No one is EVER there. 
 

pic 1 shows the restaurant right below your cabin, a deck down from you 

 

pic 2 is a view from the restaurant’s outdoor seating to your deck 

 

pic 3 shows the seating outside the restaurant that you’d see from above 

 

pic 4 shows what you’ll see from your balcony (of course, my view is from much higher as I’m on 16 at the skyview walk.)

[h-sar]

Went to the Marriage Match game show in Vista last night at 9:30. Was wall-to-wall people, Standing room only. Was a hoot. They had the typical older couple, married for 50 years, who I’m sure were fed a lot of the funny answers beforehand; and if not, they were freaking hilarious! A couple married 25 years (whose teen kids were in the audience and it got a little awkward with at least one of the questions asked😆). and a couple married a few years.

 

Later, stuck around for the Frisky Feud R rated game show. Take off on the Family Feud with people in the audience volunteering to make up the teams; definitely got a bit raunchy. If you zoom in, you can see the first question. It, too, was jampacked. Best to get there early if you want to sit down. We had to stand for both shows. The backdrops and hosting by CD Adam were quite professionally done. 
 

Pictures from both shows as well as from the princess live bar area and where the bands and necklaces for the medallion are sold.

[h-sar]

Remember the issue I had with the hydraulic something something mechanism that turned on the jets in the aromatherapy pool in the Enclave last week? They would sometimes take a few minutes to reset for me to be able to turn them back on. Sometimes 3 long minutes. And that I’d gone to the desk and one of the ladies told me it’s just how the hydraulic something something works on this ship. So, after about 5 days of this frustration,  found out that you have to push the button twice - short and quick. Works like a charm. One guess as to where I got that info, cause it certainly wasn’t at the desk. Winner gets a beautiful  harbour pic of St. Thomas where we just pulled in a few min ago. 

[GOODIES]

Thanks

For taking the time to show us the view

[h-sar]

Love St. Thomas. Hate the lizard like creatures that have infiltrated the place. Will stick to my usual survival technique: if I don’t make eye contact, they don’t exist. 
 

Anyone know why St. Thomas seems to have more iguanas (at least from what I’ve seen) than the other ports? 

[h-sar]

Here’s a pic of Vines this morning as I came back from the Enclave, for the poster who was asking about it. Also a pic of the deck 5 shop Celebrations, selling chocolate, booze, cigarettes, Tortuga rum cake (pretty similar price to ports, so just buy it on-board). 

[h-sar]

Last night’s dinner. Repeat menu of last week with a couple of minor changes. Sunil was sick so we had a a substitute for the night. She was very quick and efficient (had only two tables as some seemed to be eating elsewhere tonight) and we were out in under 90 min which meant we could make some of the shows that were going on. 
 

The featured pasta was tagliatelle in a pesto sauce. We had a starter size. AMAZING. 
Field green salad with goat cheese - very good.

 

Medallion in cognac sauce. Also very good. They’ve been cooking the beef about one level higher than requested on most nights (eg. med well when med rare was asked for). Tonight, we’ll ask for a level down than desired and see what happens. 
 

Duck a l’orange. Was brought by mistake and left for us to try. Decided after the two duck attempts that we are definitely NOT duck people! But, what better way to find out than on a cruise ship where you get a chance to try new things. I highly recommend, if you’ve got a group, to order at least one thing for the table that everyone can try out. Forgot to mention that, as per the norm, you can only order one item from each section of the menu in the specialty restaurants. However, in CG. they will let you order your two starters from the same section if you didn’t find something of interest in both sections. 
 

BBQ chicken from the every day menu (sauce seems to change up for the chicken). DH really liked it. 
 

Bananas foster

 

Profiterole with coconut ice cream - yummy! They should really put this on the every day menu as it seems to appear everyday with a different ice cream and or sauce. 
 

Chocolate Journeys, hazelnut dessert. 
Has anyone seen the Norman Love coconut one (it’s round and whiteish)? Haven’t had it in the last two yrs.One of our all time favourites, land or sea. 

 

[h-sar]

We went to Secret Harbour Beach (an old favourite we hadn’t been to in a while). Small enclosed area, beautiful water, but the beach itself is not the deep. They lost a lot of it in one of the hurricanes back a few yrs ago. Great restaurant (Sunset Grille) with awesome food and really fast wifi. Amazing coconut shrimp which the kids are always on the hunt for. Been getting island showers off and on since we got off the ship. It’s been nice for cooling things off. Very hot here, as always. 
 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Beautiful......

What was the cost of this place? Day pass? Open to the public? How much for the taxi?

[baronessk]

On 12/26/2019 at 2:03 PM, Pedro's Girl said:

Thanks, all, for posting your current experiences on Sky.  We are Platinum folks -- sailing in a few weeks.

 

Could anyone confirm what the current arrangement is regarding Sanctuary reservations?  Must they still be purchased immediately (run don't walk) upon boarding?  Any sense of whether the full week is sold out immediately (our last experience) -- or whether half-days are actually available?

 

Thanks for any feedback.

 

Pedro's Girl

First day onboard I was at the service desk getting my DM's Medallion changed from Blue to Platinum, and a man next to me was going on and on and on about how he had raced to the Sanctuary, but nothing available as all the B2B cruisers had already booked them.  He was not happy.

[h-sar]

Just now, Colo Cruiser said:

Beautiful......

What was the cost of this place? Day pass? Open to the public? How much for the taxi?

Set rate of $10 pp each way. Open to public even though there’s a condo resort right here. The tenting structure over the restaurant kept us dry with the intermittent showers. Takes about 25 minutes from the port to get here. Lots of taxis in the parking lot for the return trip, so, you do not have to book them. here are a few more pictures if anybody is considering coming here in the future. Water is pretty calm, unlike Magen’s Bay sometimes,, so good for little kids. I know they also do paddle board rentals. Only issue might be if you are looking for a really huge deep beach.

Edited December 31, 2019 by h-sar

[h-sar]

Just now, baronessk said:

First day onboard I was at the service desk getting my DM's Medallion changed from Blue to Platinum, and a man next to me was going on and on and on about how he had raced to the Sanctuary, but nothing available as all the B2B cruisers had already booked them.  He was not happy.

we checked yesterday, and no one has cancelled so we will most likely not get in. Should have tried to book last week for this leg, but maybe it was just not a priority for us, otherwise we would’ve run down the first day of the first leg. Just had a lot of things to take care of immediately upon embarkation, such as checking out dining room table for the group, making specialty dining reservations, doing the enclave booking etc. This one got forgotten, but definitely something to try again next year.

[baronessk]

On 12/28/2019 at 10:25 AM, h-sar said:

Will grab some pictures today. Kids want to eat there sometime this week, so will provide a review if we do. Not the best location, because it is totally open to the piazza and so, during dinner time, would be when there is a lot of noise coming up from the piazza with music and activities.

It's in a public location.  People walking by as you eat (having paid extra).  AND the whole Piazza smells like fish.  IMHO, this was a big mistake and I hope Princess moves it in the future.

[Colo Cruiser]

19 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Set rate of $10 pp each way. Open to public even though there’s a condo resort right here. The tenting structure over the restaurant kept us dry with the intermittent showers. Takes about 25 minutes from the port to get here. Lots of taxis in the parking lot for the return trip, so, you do not have to book them. here are a few more pictures if anybody is considering coming here in the future. Water is pretty calm, unlike Magen’s Bay sometimes,, so good for little kids. I know they also do paddle board rentals. Only issue might be if you are looking for a really huge deep beach.

Thanks!

[whitecap]

52 minutes ago, h-sar said:

We went to Secret Harbour Beach (an old favourite we hadn’t been to in a while). Small enclosed area, beautiful water, but the beach itself is not the deep. They lost a lot of it in one of the hurricanes back a few yrs ago. Great restaurant (Sunset Grille) with awesome food and really fast wifi. Amazing coconut shrimp which the kids are always on the hunt for. Been getting island showers off and on since we got off the ship. It’s been nice for cooling things off. Very hot here, as always. 
 

 

Is there a charge to get into the beach area?  Also, could you give some examples of pricing of the food.  Thanks!

[Colo Cruiser]

17 minutes ago, baronessk said:

It's in a public location.  People walking by as you eat (having paid extra).  AND the whole Piazza smells like fish.  IMHO, this was a big mistake and I hope Princess moves it in the future.

Smells like fish?

Spent a lot of time all over that area and never smelled fish.

Never smelled like fish even when I was eating there. 🤔

Yeah people walk by but when you are in the restaurant they are not near and didn't bother me. Actually never even thought about the foot traffic. I was too busy enjoying my experience!

 

Although I do not like the noise from the atrium area below though.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, whitecap said:

Is there a charge to get into the beach area?  Also, could you give some examples of pricing of the food.  Thanks!

Post #236 Open to the public.

[whitecap]

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Post #236 Open to the public.

Open to the public means to me, that anyone can go there but it doesn't explain whether or not there is a charge once you get there.  

[h-sar]

Just now, whitecap said:

Open to the public means to me, that anyone can go there but it doesn't explain whether or not there is a charge once you get there.  

No charge. The umbrellas and chairs by the resort are only rented to resort guests for the most part, but there’s a dive shop further down that rents to everyone. 
$30 for paddle board rental for half hr. No motorized rentals, thankfully. Definitely the kind of place you want to come to early in the day as it’s really busy now with resort and cruise people. I’m glad we got here when we did 

[Colo Cruiser]

16 minutes ago, whitecap said:

Open to the public means to me, that anyone can go there but it doesn't explain whether or not there is a charge once you get there.  

Have never seen a public beach with an entry fee.

Maybe for chairs and umbrellas if available.

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Have never seen a public beach with an entry fee.

Maybe for chairs and umbrellas if available.

Point taken:  "Public Beach" means the beach is open to everyone but, "Open to the public" means you don't have to be staying there to use the beach though there may be a charge for "non-resort" persons.  In any case, I'll wait for h-sar to answer.  Thanks for your input.

[h-sar]

Kids said coconut shrimp was excellent! I found the nachos just ok. Chocolate ice cream was great. The burger is fantastic as well.

[h-sar]

Post 244 re beach fees

[baronessk]

40 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Smells like fish?

Spent a lot of time all over that area and never smelled fish.

Never smelled like fish even when I was eating there. 🤔

Yeah people walk by but when you are in the restaurant they are not near and didn't bother me. Actually never even thought about the foot traffic. I was too busy enjoying my experience!

 

Although I do not like the noise from the atrium area below though.

 

Absolutely! My DM is 88 and we spend a lot of time in the Piazza. (Not atrium). The first two mornings I entered the Piazza, I actually thought there was a sewage leak somewhere.  Then I finally figured it out, it was the fish smell from La Mer. And I was not the only pax to comment and figure that out.  Just as you said, you didn't enjoy the noise from the Piazza, I didn't enjoy the smell from the fish.  La Mer needs to be moved IMHO.

Edited December 31, 2019 by baronessk

[whitecap]

6 minutes ago, h-sar said:

Kids said coconut shrimp was excellent! I found the nachos just ok. Chocolate ice cream was great. The burger is fantastic as well.

Thanks so much!!!