How boring is (Sky) Princess?

[SargassoPirate]

15 hours ago, Doug R. said:

Yeah but where is he gonna sit?

 

 

[richsea]

Nemanoxer, why don’t you join the roll call for this sailing here: 
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2662255-sky-november-5th-2020-nyc-to-ft-lauderdale/

 

It’s a little quiet now, but should be picking up as sailing gets closer.

[Nemanoxer]

Thanks @richsea

 

I will join the roll call before 2020 starts 😊

[jeromep]

On 12/30/2019 at 6:14 AM, Nemanoxer said:

I just don´t wanna end up in a Cunard-ish environment cause I tried that once, and even though they had the best buffet I ever had had til then, I felt like everyone else was just waiting to... well... not be with us for very much longer...

 

Princess is not Cunard, by a long measure.  Do things button up by 11pm, on a lot of sailings, yes, but there is usually something to do after 11pm, up to about 2am; think nightclub and the late bars.

 

Entertainment is generally very good.  Production shows are unique and generally excellent.  I think the pool vibe has become a little more low key in recent years, which is not a bad thing.

 

I think food is still excellent.  Very "continental".  There are a few ships in the fleet right now that have a reputation for bland food, but I think that is more on the executive chef assigned to the ship and less on Princess itself.  I've heard that the Emerald Princess has some pretty unimpressive food coming out of the kitchen right now, but that is something that doesn't extend to the entire fleet.

 

Princess is doing a lot of experimentation on the Royal Class ships (Royal, Regal, Majestic, Sky, Enchanted, Discovery).  Certain marine architectural features are a new thing for Princess on the Royal class ships, ex. Seawalk, evening light show pools, Sky Suites, expanded Sanctuary.  They are actively tweaking these features on a ship-to-ship basis and sometimes for the intended market of the ship (notably the Majestic's breakout role in offering cruising for China and its significant differences compared to her sisters).  They have done away with the evening light show pool on the Sky and have modified the Seawalk on Sky also.  Sky also has some significant interior design differences, especially in door and wall treatment in stateroom corredors.  Sky is also the first ship which was built with Ocean Medallion built in, all the rest of the Medallion equipped ships were retrofitted for the service, which was a lot of work and tweaking.

 

My take on the feedback on the Sky is very positive.  Like most cruises, if you go into it with an open mind and a desire to vacation and relax, you'll enjoy yourself no matter what.

[voljeep]

SKY had a couple of big whiffs IMNSHO

Le Mer

Take 5

Stairs into pools, no steps

NO CROONERS !!

 

but at least they listened to the people of CC and re-did Princess Live to a much more user friendly format

[nini]

IMO- Celebrity would be "Cunardish". We will not returning to Celebrity- not our thing.

We love Princess ships for a few reasons and one being that it is a "relaxed elegance".

We love the airy open atriums and the food is much better in the MDR and buffet.

We found Celebrity to be more uppity and the live shows lacking.

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

2 hours ago, nini said:

IMO- Celebrity would be "Cunardish". We will not returning to Celebrity- not our thing.

We love Princess ships for a few reasons and one being that it is a "relaxed elegance".

We love the airy open atriums and the food is much better in the MDR and buffet.

We found Celebrity to be more uppity and the live shows lacking.

Did the Celebrity EDGE. A cold feel to the ship. Lack of color. Terrible seating. How about a super big black horse on the upper deck. How about pig supported tables. yes pig. Statues which are abstract. Nothing nautical on that ship anywhere. It was number one new ship. I certainly had no say so on that one. Now they are changing much of it. I am trying to think what we did like bout it. Must have slipped my mind. Been on 5 Celebrity ships. No more Celebrity for us. 

[lstone19]

It’s the itinerary, not the ship, that will determine the passenger make-up and atmosphere. As such, I would expect the Sky Princess NYC-FLL cruise in November to pretty much the same as the near-identical cruise done by Regal Princess for the last several years. We only did it in 2019 but there are a large group of regulars on it and in 2019 it was a bit of a party cruise with venues and entertainment going until at least midnight. I can assure the OP that at 10PM, things will just be heating up, not shutting down.

[Nemanoxer]

Happy New Year y´all and thank you for contributing to my thread.

 

Actually, it is the "Sky" itself that enabled Princess to catch me after all. She seems to be the first more contemporary Princess ship, and even though she is huge, I empathize there will be a very relaxed vibe on that ship, especially during my specific cruise.

 

Celebrity Edge seemed a bit like "poser´s dream of a money trap" and did not make me happy at all, except for the really great buffet restaurant that had gone back to better Celebrity days and the production show that got my cell phone shaking in my hand when the bass set in. But well, it was her maiden voyage, I do not know what she is like in "everyday cruise life".

 

I will love that balcony cabin up there on Aloha, midship. That is for sure.  

[SargassoPirate]

10 hours ago, twodaywonder said:

Did the Celebrity EDGE. A cold feel to the ship. Lack of color. Terrible seating. How about a super big black horse on the upper deck. How about pig supported tables. yes pig. Statues which are abstract. Nothing nautical on that ship anywhere. It was number one new ship. I certainly had no say so on that one. Now they are changing much of it. I am trying to think what we did like bout it. Must have slipped my mind. Been on 5 Celebrity ships. No more Celebrity for us. 

 

The newer Celebrity ships, at least what we found on the Solstice, have an  "Ikea" feel to them so we try to book the older ships that are more traditional - such as what we found on our two most recent Celebrity cruises on the Infinity and the Millennium.  And, we dearly miss the Mercury.

 

[richsea]

As a long time Celebrity cruiser who has been sailing Princess almost exclusively the past few years due to Xs high fares, I again have to say the X & Princess are more alike than different; in food, service, & passengers. We’ve never sailed Edge class, & probably never will. The lack of a real balcony, along with premium fares, is a deal killer for us. However, Celebrity’s S class & M class are both beautiful in our opinion. Princess offers better & more varied entertainment, but Celebrity’s Oceanview Cafe beats Horizon Court On Grand Class hands down. 
Both lines offer a similar experience, with each excelling in different areas, according to one’s taste.

[Nemanoxer]

I am finding the S-Class Revolution partially unsuccessful @richsea . That is why I have now shied away from going on my former all time favourite ship Equinox. The style mix and the partially not renovated staterooms feel ridiculous to me...

 

Looking forward to testing out the World Fresh Marketplace versus Oceanview Café.

[richsea]

3 hours ago, Nemanoxer said:

I am finding the S-Class Revolution partially unsuccessful @richsea . That is why I have now shied away from going on my former all time favourite ship Equinox. The style mix and the partially not renovated staterooms feel ridiculous to me...

 

Looking forward to testing out the World Fresh Marketplace versus Oceanview Café.

We haven’t experienced the Revolution on S class, but loved Equinox prior.
 

Horizon Court/World Fresh Marketplace on Royal class ships are a big improvement over the cramped Horizon Court on Princess older ships.

[Oceansaway17]

On 12/30/2019 at 3:19 PM, Nemanoxer said:

@Oceansaway17

 

About everything was bad on Anthem OTS during that cruise. I loved my Single Balcony Stateroom, that was the highlight. But apart from that...

 

Longest queues I have ever seen on any cruise ship, not just for the MDRs but especially for Customer Service, for Shore Excursions and for Two70 shows. A fellow cruiser estimated one queue being about 70 meters long on one night. 

 

Public displays hardly worked. Coca Cola machines were out of order like every second day. Shore excursion disembarkation was completely unorganized or at least seemed like that. All the crew seemed overworked and tired, nobody smiled. And that public announcement in the buffet restaurant telling us we should hurry to leave our breakfast table so that the next guys can use it - that made me decide that RCL itself is dead for me until further notice. 

 

 

 

okay your third notification has now provided what I was interested in.

 

I see you did a single balcony and liked it.  That is great to hear since I am on one for the new Odyssey twice next year and yes those lousy announcement to eat and leave do happen a lot.

But I have done Anthem twice and had great time.  I suppose yours might have been a one off.

You should try the new ship coming out next year for Miami or do Ovation in Alaska.

 

I am looking forward to going on the Sky in Copenhagen in July. Only did one Princess cruise and that was the Caribbean Princess with balcony that had ugly wrinkly blue carpets.  I was just okay with Caribbean Princess but I did really like the back end of the ship with the long ramp up to a lounge.

 

 

toodles.  

[CruiseVA]

This whole thread feels like a troll...

[Oceansaway17]

1 minute ago, CruiseVA said:

This whole thread feels like a troll...

yea but it is also entertaining.

 

Can ya tell me what the term troll means.  I think not everyone wants to comment.  

I like to and try to be nice as I can.  

 

But it is not a good idea to be too loyal to any one cruise line and to be open minded and kind.

[Wishing on a star]

OP,  As mentioned, I have sailed on the Regal, and I feel that any Royal class ship would be considered almost equally contemporary.  In fact,  when I look at the Sky,  I do not like the updates.  The Sanctuary, instead of warm and pleasing and welcoming, seems minimalistic and sterile.  They took away the open promenade areas, mid-ship, and they are dedicated dining for the two restaurants.  While they did enlarge and improve the main pools,  which is nice..   Take a look at the retreat pool,  now fully inclosed by cabins.   Totally ruins the area/venue.  And several other things like that.

They should have improved on the Regal,  not messed with it!!!!  They have changed the things that I, personally, really liked about the Regal and the Royal Class.

But, if by 'contemporary', these are things that you like, or do not mind...  you will love the Sky!!!!

 

I will say again,  CUNARD and/or floating old folks home would not be words I would use to describe these Princess ships, on many itineraries.  Carnival...  floating party or theme park...  no.   But, def. not as 'boring' as you night have imagined.

Not unless you are a Bucket of Beer on Carnival kind of guy!!!

 

 

[Wishing on a star]

I will add that I do not think that one cruise on Caribbean Princess is enough for one to make a fair comment, especially regarding the new ships like the Sky....  

[Oceansaway17]

8 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I will add that I do not think that one cruise on Caribbean Princess is enough for one to make a fair comment, especially regarding the new ships like the Sky....  

 

that is why after hearing the negatives on Regal and Royal, I waited until a good itinerary came and will try the Sky out of Copenhagen.  Did the Baltics once and looking forward to it again.

 

But there are folks if they have one negative cruise, won't EVER try again.  At least I am not one of those folks.

 

don't laugh but a year ago I met and rich couple from FLA, they do a lot of cruises and can afford any of them,

but they mostly do Carnival as they want fun not expensive food or perks.   It shows there are all kinds of travellers out there.  I do meet more and more folks who now sing the praise of the newest ships on all the lines these days.

[mamkmm2]

On 12/30/2019 at 12:54 PM, jangor said:

Personally, I choose the itinerary first; then the ship!

 

This is what Princess is best at.  Their itineraries are some of the best.  Hubby and I usually try and have as few sea days as possible and we've found it most often on Princess.

[kywildcatfanone]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Take a look at the retreat pool,  now fully inclosed by cabins.   Totally ruins the area/venue.  And several other things like that.

They should have improved on the Regal,  not messed with it!!!!  They have changed the things that I, personally, really liked about the Regal and the Royal Class.

This is me as well.  I just moved a spring booking from the Sky to the Regal for the retreat pool changes.  A huge downgrade to us.  We will still sail on the Sky and others, but will try to book the Royal/Regal first if possible.

[richsea]

3 hours ago, CruiseVA said:

This whole thread feels like a troll...

And why do you say that?

[RMMariner]

To be bored is an insult to one's self. 

Edited January 2, 2020 by RMMariner

[MissP22]

I haven't read any of the responses in this thread but why would the Sky be any more boring the the rest of the fleet? 

[Nemanoxer]

The thread was brought up by a total Princess beginner who was afraid Princess could be Cunard-ish @MissP22

Subject is solved.