Just Back From Thanksgiving Cruise on Sky

[Twocoasts]

I posted previously that we booked this cruise to burn a credit and to just grab a few days of R&R. We are not huge party people, so you won't find us at the pool bar or the Glow party. But we do enjoy the entertainment, food, and ocean views. Weather in Miami was not great--rainy and windy. Fortunately, the weather was perfect the rest of the trip.

 

I purchased Priority Boarding because I was worried about large crowds at the Port of Miami. It wasn't necessary. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy security and check in was. Granted, Sky is a smaller ship, but truly this was much easier than we expected. We checked in around 11 and I think we boarded at 11:30. Priority did give us a change to board first, which was nice. And we used the spa credit so worth it for us.

 

We found one of the spa gals and booked our first couples massage for Monday afternoon. Then explored the ship a bit before heading to the Garden Cafe for lunch. Food on the buffet on Monday was excellent! They were carving prime rib at lunch and all of the vegetables were very fresh. Nice start to our trip! They called for cabins before we finished lunch so not much wait at all. We headed down to the cabin (0226) and while it was immaculately clean, believe people when they say the Sky cabins are small. Soooooo tiny! And very little storage space. Our Epic cabin in May was not much larger in square footage, but the space utilization was 100 times better. We unpacked enjoyed the balcony, grabbed a cocktail and then went up to the spa. 

 

Wow! Our couples massage was fantastic! We walked out of there (maybe floated) and went to the cabin for a brief nap before dinner. Relaxation? Check! We ate dinner at the Palace. Service was very good. Food was fine. Not bad, not spectacular. Overall, a pleasant meal. After dinner we went up to the Spinnaker Lounge for a drink. This was our favorite place on the ship. Gorgeous views and great bartenders. We watched karaoke, which was highly entertaining, and called it a night.

 

First port: Nassau. We didn't want to do excursions this cruise. So, I booked us a day pass via ResortPass at a small hotel called the Graycliff Manor. Beautiful old manor house with lovely gardens and a pool area that felt like a total oasis in the middle of Nassau. The pass included pool access, two cocktails and a three-course lunch. We played at the pool for a few hours, had lunch and then walked back to the ship. Did a little shopping then back to the cabin to "rest" from our hectic day (ha!). We had a 6:30 reservation at Le Bistro that night. Le Bistro on Sky is really lovely. smaller than Epic but I liked the decor more. Food was very good but the food was much, much better on Epic. I had the duck and it was tough, and the orange flavor was completely missing. SO had the veal chop and it was good but half the size of the one on Epic. Their mushroom soup was outstanding, as was the scallop appetizer. We did not leave hungry though, and skipped dessert. There was a stand-up comic on Tuesday and we enjoyed the show. They were supposed to do their We Will Rock You production show Tuesday it was canceled (no explanation). Back to Spinnaker for a night cap and called it a day.

 

Second Port: Great Stirrup Cay. We booked a private cabana and I'm so glad we did. The weather was perfect, and the Silver Cove beach was so quiet and lovely. Spent the day swimming and lounging.  I will say that NCL needs to do a better job of servicing the cabanas. No food or drink menus, no overview of the cabana (e.g. how to get floats for the ocean), no info on what time the food truck closed (way earlier than you might expect) etc. We had a great day but it's the little things that can take an experience from good to great. Reports from kids in the cabana next to ours was that the main beach was a lot of fun. Music, games, etc. It's great that there are both active and quiet areas so everyone can get the beach day they really want. 

 

Had dinner at the Local Wednesday night. The chicken wings were awesome! 10 out of 10! But the spinach artichoke dip was inedible. Just a gloppy mess that tasted like cooked flour and milk. Yuk. The fish and chips were really good too. But we did swing by the Garden Cafe after to grab a salad to offset the wings. It's all about balance! Wednesday night we went to the casino and killed a couple of hours playing video poker. Only lost $20 so happy about that. Then we found the piano player on deck 7 and had drinks while people watching and enjoying the music. After a couple of bourbons, I was able to convince SO to look at Swiss watches. I've been trying to buy him a nice watch for two years and he finally found one he liked! That was probably my favorite part of the trip--followed closely by swimming on Great Stirrup Cay. Another good day. 

 

Thanksgiving Day. Grand Bahama Island. We decided to stay on the ship today--I really have no desire to swim with pigs! Slept in and had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. Decided to try our hand at trivia. It was actually a lot of fun--and we won! Feeling full of ourselves we moved on to corn hole. Sadly, we didn't win but we didn't embarrass ourselves either! We loved our massage so much on Monday that we booked another for this afternoon, and it did not disappoint. 

 

Went to the Garden Cafe expecting a wonderful Thanksgiving buffet. It was anything but that. Thanksgiving wasn't mentioned at all anywhere on the ship all day. It was odd. After seeing another poster's pic of the Encore's buffet with linens and beautiful decorations, I admit my expectations were high. But of all the meals we had at the buffet, this was by far the worst. Yes, there carved turkey but that's where it stopped. The gravy was brown water--no flavor at all. Stuffing were dried bread cubes. No mashed potatoes, green vegetables, sweet potatoes or pies of any kind. There was a sheet cake that read, "Happy Thanksgiving."  It was just sad. 

 

We Will Rock You was on stage Thursday night, and it was fantastic! Those performers are incredibly talented. After the show we went back to the casino and I won big!!! $62 on a 25 cent bet! We cashed out our big, big winnings and went back to the theater for late night comedy. It was the same comic as Tuesday and  he was pretty good again. 

 

Friday morning we had breakfast in the dining room and disembarked around 8:45 a.m. This was the only time all week we waited in a line. But, once off the ship we were able to easily grab our luggage and head back to the airport. 

 

In summary: Would I do this cruise again? Not if I was paying full price. It was a perfect short break for us but I'd rather spend the $ for a longer cruise. Would I book a mid-ship cabin on Deck 10? No! While there wasn't any noise from chairs or running above us, we could not escape the music from the pool deck immediately over our heads. Would we sail Sky again? Maybe. We really liked the layout of the ship and the public spaces but not sure I could do that small cabin for anything longer than 4 nights. And if I'm going to pay the price of upgrading to Haven, I could just as easily take Oceania or Viking. Just one final word: we were very happy with the staff. They were wonderful literally everywhere we went.  Happy cruising!

[ggTexasGal]

Thank you for your post.  It seems that you had a good cruise.

(Great to know you enjoyed your couple's massages!)

[BikerAl]

I love Thanksgiving dinner, and that experience would have earned a note to corporate.  Thanks for the review.

 

[HBCcruiser]

When were you able to purchase the Proprity Pass if you remember?

[Back to school]

Thanks for the review.  Le Bistro, personally the best restaurant NCL.

[drumming cruisers]

Liked your review.  We Americans need to remember Thanksgiving is an American holiday, with the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin and apple pie etc. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by drumming cruisers

[sarahandmike23]

Thank you for the review. We’re on the Sky next year over thanksgiving for 10

days. I haven’t heard of ResortPass before. Was this your first time using?  Did you enjoy that particular resort, food, service?

[Twocoasts]

4 hours ago, sarahandmike23 said:

Thank you for the review. We’re on the Sky next year over thanksgiving for 10

days. I haven’t heard of ResortPass before. Was this your first time using?  Did you enjoy that particular resort, food, service?

I’ve used Resort Pass several times, with great success! We liked the hotel in Nassau because it was secluded and quiet. They had some of the larger all-inclusives available too.

[Twocoasts]

22 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

When were you able to purchase the Proprity Pass if you remember?

Do you mean Priority boarding? Yes. — we did.