SKY PRINCESS...is Vines being removed ??

[wowzz]

17 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

I was hoping they would put Crooners where Bistro Sur La Mer is now

No, Sabatinis is going there,  as confirmed by Princess. No rumours about that. 

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, wowzz said:

No, Sabatinis is going there,  as confirmed by Princess. No rumours about that. 

Thanks I see this now; https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/princess-cruises-unveils-the-catch-by-rudi-new-signature-seafood-restaurant-301792838.html.
 

Strange that they haven’t changed the deck plans. 

 

I think it’s a shame they haven’t taken the opportunity to add more seating.

[CruisinChris]

Cruisemapper deck plans for Sky definitely have some innacuracies - I would take with a grain of salt.  They are currently showing Bellini's on two different decks.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

I think it’s a shame they haven’t taken the opportunity to add more seating.

Whilst I understand your wishes, the piazza is used for numerous activities both during the day, and obviously at night for dancing. Adding more seating to the area would severely curtail these activities.

The one area that could be opened up is the ice cream/ gelato bar, which is severely underutilized, and already serves as a spill over area for Vines.

[Tomcruise92]

I severely hope they wouldn't get rid of Vines too. I agree about the seating. After the two week cruise on Sky just gone, we can probably mostly all agree finding a seat in the evening was an absolute nightmare. The lack of Crooners is evident. I really don't know why they need all that space for photos. Surely they can fit that elsewhere and add another large bar to alleviate the seating pressures.

[Nicole&Pete]

28 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Whilst I understand your wishes, the piazza is used for numerous activities both during the day, and obviously at night for dancing. Adding more seating to the area would severely curtail these activities.

The one area that could be opened up is the ice cream/ gelato bar, which is severely underutilized, and already serves as a spill over area for Vines.

Yes that would be good!

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, Tomcruise92 said:

I severely hope they wouldn't get rid of Vines too. I agree about the seating. After the two week cruise on Sky just gone, we can probably mostly all agree finding a seat in the evening was an absolute nightmare. The lack of Crooners is evident. I really don't know why they need all that space for photos. Surely they can fit that elsewhere and add another large bar to alleviate the seating pressures.

We were on the Sky last year and are again this summer.
 

Last year the thing I was nervous about was seating in the evening due to one less large bar area than the Royal/ Regal. We ended up having a 60% full ship so we didn’t find seating a problem except in Princess live when an event was on. Was your cruise relatively full? 

[niltava42]

We received an email from Princess this morning re the Bistro going...

 

UPDATED SPECIALTY DINING INFORMATION
Your upcoming cruise on Sky Princess will be one of the first to feature The Catch by Rudi, a new specialty dining concept from award-winning Chef Rudi Sodamin that showcases the bounty of the sea. This exciting new specialty restaurant replaces Bistro Sur La Mer. Guests with existing reservations for Bistro Sur La Mer will have these automatically transferred to either Crown Grill or Harmony.

[caribill]

6 minutes ago, niltava42 said:

We received an email from Princess this morning re the Bistro going...

 

UPDATED SPECIALTY DINING INFORMATION
Your upcoming cruise on Sky Princess will be one of the first to feature The Catch by Rudi, a new specialty dining concept from award-winning Chef Rudi Sodamin that showcases the bounty of the sea. This exciting new specialty restaurant replaces Bistro Sur La Mer. Guests with existing reservations for Bistro Sur La Mer will have these automatically transferred to either Crown Grill or Harmony.

 

One would think they transfer a reservation for a no longer existing seafood restaurant to the new seafood restaurant, not at random to a steakhouse or Italian restaurant.

[Devoncruiser82]

32 minutes ago, niltava42 said:

We received an email from Princess this morning re the Bistro going...

 

UPDATED SPECIALTY DINING INFORMATION
Your upcoming cruise on Sky Princess will be one of the first to feature The Catch by Rudi, a new specialty dining concept from award-winning Chef Rudi Sodamin that showcases the bounty of the sea. This exciting new specialty restaurant replaces Bistro Sur La Mer. Guests with existing reservations for Bistro Sur La Mer will have these automatically transferred to either Crown Grill or Harmony.

Is Harmony going to Sky now?

Our booking for Bistro was cancelled for our cruise on the 6th, so we've booked Catch. 

[wowzz]

47 minutes ago, niltava42 said:

We received an email from Princess this morning re the Bistro going...

 

UPDATED SPECIALTY DINING INFORMATION
Your upcoming cruise on Sky Princess will be one of the first to feature The Catch by Rudi, a new specialty dining concept from award-winning Chef Rudi Sodamin that showcases the bounty of the sea. This exciting new specialty restaurant replaces Bistro Sur La Mer. Guests with existing reservations for Bistro Sur La Mer will have these automatically transferred to either Crown Grill or Harmony.

Which ship are you on ?

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Nicole&Pete said:

We were on the Sky last year and are again this summer.
 

Last year the thing I was nervous about was seating in the evening due to one less large bar area than the Royal/ Regal. We ended up having a 60% full ship so we didn’t find seating a problem except in Princess live when an event was on. Was your cruise relatively full? 

I think @Tomcruise92 was on the same cruise as us (April 1st) . Cruising over the Easter holidays,  it was virtually full (3960 pax), and yes, in the early evening, say 18:00 to 20:00, before people started going to dinner (lots if Brits on board so people ate later) and the first theatre show,  it was difficult at times to find a seat, especially on deck 5. 

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, wowzz said:

I think @Tomcruise92 was on the same cruise as us (April 1st) . Cruising over the Easter holidays,  it was virtually full (3960 pax), and yes, in the early evening, say 18:00 to 20:00, before people started going to dinner (lots if Brits on board so people ate later) and the first theatre show,  it was difficult at times to find a seat, especially on deck 5. 

Thanks for the information, we would normally go to the later theatre show, is that less busy?

[wowzz]

Just now, Nicole&Pete said:

Thanks for the information, we would normally go to the later theatre show, is that less busy?

Sorry,  we only went to one of the theatre shows (Showbar - we walked out after 15 minutes). But that was the 10:15 show,  and the theatre was busy, but not full.

[Tomcruise92]

12 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I think @Tomcruise92 was on the same cruise as us (April 1st) . Cruising over the Easter holidays,  it was virtually full (3960 pax), and yes, in the early evening, say 18:00 to 20:00, before people started going to dinner (lots if Brits on board so people ate later) and the first theatre show,  it was difficult at times to find a seat, especially on deck 5. 

I was on this cruise yes... Overall really enjoyed but the seating thing did drive us a little crazy by the end.

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, wowzz said:

Sorry,  we only went to one of the theatre shows (Showbar - we walked out after 15 minutes). But that was the 10:15 show,  and the theatre was busy, but not full.

Ah ok thanks for the info

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, Tomcruise92 said:

I was on this cruise yes... Overall really enjoyed but the seating thing did drive us a little crazy by the end.

Thanks at least I’m for-warned of this before our cruise.

 

thanks

[Tomcruise92]

6 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Thanks at least I’m for-warned of this before our cruise.

 

thanks

Still had a really good cruise though. Entertainment and staff were awesome. You'll have a great time ! 🙂

[Nicole&Pete]

Just now, Tomcruise92 said:

Still had a really good cruise though. Entertainment and staff were awesome. You'll have a great time ! 🙂

Thank you 🙂

[Alcairns]

22 hours ago, Jeter02 said:

The source is myself. There is never been talks about removing Vines at all especially during recent times. I was just on the ship not too long ago and when the captains spoke about what was being done in dry dock that was not one of them. The only changes that we're being done was sabatini's being moved to Sur La Mer and the new catch of the Day restaurant opening in sabatini's. Other than that the whole of the ship was getting a new spray job with the airstream bubbles to help with the friction of the ship sailing through the water. Other than that it was just normal routine maintenance on the ship being done for dry dock.

This is exactly what we were told by the hotel general manager at the captains suite guests reception on our transatlantic last month. 

[Geoffa30]

Wasn’t there a rumour about Crooners being added? Having sailed on Sky Princess multiple times, seating in the Piazza area - all floors - for drinks in the evening is lacking. My hope is that they somehow commandeer part of the photo gallery to add more seating / Crooners. In my opinion, its location and size on Sky Princess is using up too much valuable real estate.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Geoffa30 said:

Wasn’t there a rumour about Crooners being added? Having sailed on Sky Princess multiple times, seating in the Piazza area - all floors - for drinks in the evening is lacking. My hope is that they somehow commandeer part of the photo gallery to add more seating / Crooners. In my opinion, its location and size on Sky Princess is using up too much valuable real estate.

I agree about the lack of seating. Unfortunately I think the rumour about Crooners remains just that.

[JimmyVWine]

14 hours ago, Tomcruise92 said:

The lack of Crooners is evident. I really don't know why they need all that space for photos. Surely they can fit that elsewhere and add another large bar to alleviate the seating pressures.

This is exactly what they should do.  Instead of filling up public space with screens for people to view and order photos, they should link the photo system to the cabin TVs and let people view and order their photos through that pathway.  After ordering, the photos can either be delivered to the cabin or picked up at a small kiosk.  The current photo space could then be converted into a lounge/bar and generate real revenue. It is likely that many (most?) people who are ordering photos have already pre-paid for them through the Premier Package, so the square footage allocated to the photo screens is not generating any new revenue.  It's just servicing people who have already put down their money.  I suppose that the same could be said about a bar, but if I had to guess, I would say that more money will be spent by people on board without a Package who order drinks than there will be spent by people who do not have Premier who purchase photos.

 

All of this raises the frightening prospect that the bean counters have figured out that the old cruise ship model of creating as many ways as possible to get people to buy drinks to drive up revenue is over, and if enough people pre-pay for alcohol through the purchase of a package, then it benefits the cruise line to develop ways to get people to order as few drinks as possible.  In the past, the interior architects would look at a blueprint and say: "Put a bar there."  Now, they will look at a blueprint and say: "Remove that bar."        

[Mary loves to travel]

7 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

All of this raises the frightening prospect that the bean counters have figured out that the old cruise ship model of creating as many ways as possible to get people to buy drinks to drive up revenue is over, and if enough people pre-pay for alcohol through the purchase of a package, then it benefits the cruise line to develop ways to get people to order as few drinks as possible.  In the past, the interior architects would look at a blueprint and say: "Put a bar there."  Now, they will look at a blueprint and say: "Remove that bar."        

This!

 

We first ran into this phenomena 20 years ago when a favorite resort in Cabo went all-inclusive.  I thought, "oh, how great, so fun and easy!"    Hah!    Suddenly, no more circulating servers by the pool taking drink orders.   Want a drink?   Walk over to the bar.    

Makes business sense.

With the package, why have more bars, as they're no longer a profit center.

 

Mary

[caribill]

4 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

This is exactly what they should do.  Instead of filling up public space with screens for people to view and order photos, they should link the photo system to the cabin TVs and let people view and order their photos through that pathway. 

 

That would reduce sales to people who do not have free photos from a package.

 

Walking past a photo gallery triggers a "let's look at our pictures" impulse reaction in people who then might order and pay for some photos.

 

But in a cabin, most passengers will not think of taking the time to look at photos on the cabin TV.

 

Result, less sales.