Live from the Sky Princess 11/20–12/4

[KLM3164]

Starting a Sky Princess Live thread for those who are on the 11/20and 11/27 sailings. If you are on these sailings please share your thoughts and experiences when you can. If you have an upcoming sailing on the Sky please ask any questions you may have and we’ll try to answer what we can.

My DH and I are so excited to be sailing on the Sky Princess after our cruise last November on the same ship was canceled. We’ve been waiting a long time to get on this ship and we are traveling with long-time friends from Oregon. We are sailing B2B on 11/20and 11/27 sailings which will take us to 7 ports in the eastern and western Caribbean. Looking forward to spending Thanksgiving on the ship with our friends.

We flew from CA to FL yesterday so we’d have an extra buffer day in case there were any flight cancellations or delays. We were fortunate that all our flights were on time and we met our friends at the Embassy Suites which is a short distance to FLL airport and Port Everglades. After having a couple drinks to start our vacation it was time to crash after a long day of travel and little sleep the night before we left home. 

We used the Binax home test which was super easy and I’d highly recommend it. Each test took about 30 minutes from start to finish. We were planning to do the test at the hotel on Thursday evening but ended up doing the test at home in the early morning hours before our 5 am airport shuttle. I did my test at 12:15 am and DH did his at 3:30 am. There was no waiting to be connected to a certified guide for the test in the early morning hours. I felt relieved to know we were getting on the plane with negative test results in hand before flying across the country. 

We have nothing scheduled for today except hanging out at the hotel pool which is lovely and the hotel happy hour which gives each person 2 free drinks. We will also be counting the hours down until we can board the Sky Princess.🛳️🍾🥂🏖️

[17pandd]

Looks wonderful!  Relax and enjoy your cruise.

[Musky Ike]

Thank You for starting this thread. We will be joining you on the 27th. Keep her ship shape until we get there. We purchased the home tests from the Princess link as well to take on Thanksgiving morning early. Hope for a negative result and to see you onboard.

[5:00_Somewhere]

I'll be following with great interest, as we board on 12/4 for the same B2B. 🙂 I'm especially interested to hear about your experiences on turnaround day, Covid testing, etc.  Have a great cruise! 🍾🥂⛱️

[iamaqt2]

Looking forward to following along as we are also boarding 12/4.  I'd love any dailies and menus you happen to snap pics of.  Enjoy your cruise!

[RoePost]

See you all on November 27. Can’t wait. 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

The other half of 5:00_Somewhere so I will also be following on this thread to help us count down to our cruise!

[CruisinChandler]

We’re so excited for this cruise! We’ll just be on the first leg, the 11/20 sailing. This is our first Princess cruise and we’re thrilled to experience what makes them special. We had a couple Carnival cruises cancelled during the shutdown and we’re so ready to finally get back on a ship!

 

We had our Covid tests yesterday at the CVS in Plantation, FL. It was quick and easy and our results were available within an hour. I just got home from my mani/pedi and I’m about to start tackling packing! We have our ocean medallions and we’re in embarkation group A, so hopefully we’ll get on the ship early, since we’re ready to explore the ship and start this cruise!

[chrysalis]

We are sitting in the 3rd airport off the day enroute to fort Lauderdale at the moment and will contribute as we can during the 28 days that we are on board.

[KLM3164]

It’s been a wet and rainy day in Fort Lauderdale but still warm outside which I love. Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend any time at the hotel pool today. Saw the Caribbean Princess and Regal Princess from our room at the Embassy Suites.

Edited November 19, 2021 by KLM3164

[KLM3164]

Getting ready for 5:00 happy hour at the Embassy Suites!

[Waterluv]

Enjoy your cruise and have a great safe time. We’ll be on, on the 4th but now knowing it’s going to be out to sea without a break I’m sad that the ship might not be decorated for Christmas 🎄. I was really hoping it would be all pretty for Christmas when we board. Please let us know if you see any signs of it being decorated. I’ve already got a customized magnet sign for our stateroom 🚪 door. Thanks

[JanetGofWI]

We’ll be on starting the 27th. So looking forward to being on a cruise again. Counting down the days. We fly out on thanksgiving. I plan to take the Covid test in the wee hours of thanksgiving as well, get a few hours of sleep, and head to the airport.

[TracieABD]

Bon Voyage!

[OCruisers]

Looking forward to your "live".  

Happy Sailing!

[KLM3164]

Our clothes are laid out for the morning and we are ready to go.

[5:00_Somewhere]

10 minutes ago, KLM3164 said:

Our clothes are laid out for the morning and we are ready to go.

 

I absolutely LOVE your shirts!!! 😄

 

[suzyed]

We'll be on Sky on 12/28 for the S. Caribbean sailing over New Year's Eve!
Quick question....how far in advance of sailing were you able to make Specialty Dining reservations?

 

[KLM3164]

25 minutes ago, suzyed said:

how far in advance of sailing were you able to make Specialty Dining reservations?

We didn’t make reservations in advance so I’m not able to answer your question. Our TA gifted us with complimentary dining at Crown Grill and Sabatini’s so we are waiting to make our reservations on the ship as the app wouldn’t allow us to apply our credits. This seems to be a glitch with the system as I would have made reservations in advance if I could have used my onboard credit to pay for the cover charges.

[MidGaCruzers]

Bon voyage all. Have a great vacation. 
 

We will also be boarding on the 4th for 7 days.   If you have a chance to post the Officers and Cruise director staff we would be interested.  Also a run down on the shows would be appreciated.  

[1emerald1]

Great pics, keep them coming!

[Musky Ike]

8 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

Our clothes are laid out for the morning and we are ready to go.

It looks like they have changed medallion holders this week. Ours for Saturday are just a small plastic ring that the medallion snaps into, not the flat card with the logo insert. I think I will like them better.

Edited November 20, 2021 by Musky Ike

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

13 hours ago, Waterluv said:

Enjoy your cruise and have a great safe time. We’ll be on, on the 4th but now knowing it’s going to be out to sea without a break I’m sad that the ship might not be decorated for Christmas 🎄. I was really hoping it would be all pretty for Christmas when we board. Please let us know if you see any signs of it being decorated. I’ve already got a customized magnet sign for our stateroom 🚪 door. Thanks

Sky Princess is doing all 7 day cruises until she starts her Christmas cruise on the 18th. She will be back in Ft. Lauderdale every Saturday. I cruise every year right after Thanksgiving and it’s fully decorated. I would assume they would start decorating on the cruise starting Nov 27th and be fully decorated by the time we board on the 4th. If the don’t start until our cruise it will still be decorated for most of it. It doesn’t take them long to decorate the ship. 

[cltnccruisers]

We're packing today for the 11/27 sailing.  We have 4 test kits for the 2 of us.  I originally got 3 and used 1 for familiarization.  After a couple of connectivity bumps it worked very well.  Decided to get a couple more for backup just to be safe.  Our travel days are Thanksgiving and Black Friday so we'll test in the wee hours of Thanksgiving.  We'll be packing today and watching your sail away on the Ft L webcam.  Port Everglades Webcam - A Fort Lauderdale Cruise Ship Web Cam  

[brovol]

Wife and I are boarding the Sky this morning too.  Our medallion app, which until this morning had been in the Green Lane, ready to go, no longer says that, and did not have a green check in the arrival time box. I clicked on that, and it said the ship had already sailed.  Wondering if original poster is getting that same thing. We were in the first arrival group prior to that, and no longer have any option to do anything in that category. I'm sure it's just a medallion app glitch, but it is a frustration to see that, and be powerless to correct it.