Back from the Sky 9/1 - 9/5

[hamiltito]

My wife and I are just home from this week's four day Sky cruise, with itinerary changed from Bahamas to Cozumel/Key West thanks to Hanna. We were upsold prior to the cruise from EE Guarantee to a BB Balcony on Deck 10, room 0044.

 

Sewage/Air Conditioning Issues

-Air conditioning in our stateroom was definitely working.

-Although it wasn't an issue inside our stateroom, we noticed a distinct sewage smell on various levels in the aft of the ship on embarkation day, but not later in the cruise. However, on multiple occasions there was a strong sewage smell outside when we went out on our balcony to read, including a couple occasions where the smell was so bad that we went back inside. If we hadn't gotten the balcony upsell so cheaply ($25/pp) I likely would have complained.

 

Freestyle 2.0

Champaign Welcome - Yes

Escort to Balcony Stateroom - No

Added Lobster - Didn't Notice It

New Matresses - I hope it wasn't new, but the bedding was nicer

Bathrobes - Yes

Fruit Menu - No

Last Night Cookies - No

 

Food

The food on this cruise was easily the worst of our four cruises - not outright awful, but bad enough that although we very much enjoyed the food on our previous three cruises on this cruise at various points we dreaded having to choose where to eat lunch or dinner because the options just weren't appealing. In general it seemed like the food options were both less broad and done more cheaply than on our previous cruises.

-I thought our Cagney's meal was superior to Cagney's on the Star (we both had captain's cut filet), although my wife did not - my own meat was better quality and cooked closer to order (medium) than on the previous ship. However, for the price it still didn't measure up to a top notch steakhouse meal on land, especially for those of us from the DC area who have ready access to Ray's.

-The cheesecake served at Cagney's wasn't nearly as good as the specialty restaurant cheesecake on our previous cruises - it didn't taste at all like real cheesecake.

-The pasta station cooks didn't seem to get that a small amount of garlic goes a long way. The first time I tried the station at dinner in the buffet, the cook included two heaing spoonfuls of garlic and only three thinble-sized pieces of garlic in my pasta. The second time, in Il Adagio at lunch, he included another two heaping spoonfuls, and when I told him I didn't want nearly that much garlic he didn't understand and poured most of the oil out of the pan instead of taking any of the garlic out.

-The Palace breakfast for balcony passengers was a nice idea, but the one morning we went our server wasn't that friendly and the sitdown breakfast options were very limited compared to the buffet.

-The pancakes in the buffet were the best I've had on any cruise.

 

Crew

In general the crew of the ship were as friendly and helpful as any we've encountered. Our room stewards, Jaime and ?, were outstanding.

-I thought the drink sales seemed even pushier than usual. On the pool deck on embarkation day we were asked six times if we wanted a drink before we finished putting on our sunblock.

 

Entertainment/Cruise Director Staff

-Based on the opening night welcome show, we chose not to waste our time going to either of the musical productions. The limited bit from the NCL Production Crew during that session wasn't very good.

-Although we thought the audience participation component of Tim Kaminsky's comedy was overdone, he was very funny and his pool deck session on the final night was the entertainment highlight of the cruise. Tim was great to chat with offstage and was extremely visible around the ship.

-MATT WAS AN ABOVE AVERAGE CRUISE DIRECTOR.

-My wife thought the adult Wii time was overdone and that NCL was shilling Nintendo a little too much. I very much enjoyed taking on Asst. Cruise Director Joe in Wii Tennis.

-The various new parties seemed to be well attended. However, there seemed to be a lot more people sitting around watching the action that participating in it.

 

Cozumel

I typically do extensive research on our ports before we cruise but didn't have a chance to for Cozumel and Key West because our itinerary was changed at the last minute. After shopping around town for an hour or so we took a cab to Paradise Beach and paid for the use of two beach chairs and the other amenities at the beach, and because we weren't looking to eat or drink much the round trip taxis, user fees, and a couple drinks were less than $60, compared to the $59/pp NCL was getting for a shore excursion there with unlimited food and drink.

 

Key West

After taking the mandatory (free) tram from the pier into town we walked around the island on our own, touring the Little White House ($15/pp), which was interesting by probably not worth the cost, then visiting the southernmost point, walking back through town and doing a little shopping with a stop at the Coach outlet for my wife, and then grabbing a slice of key lime pie before tramming back to the ship. Again the activity portion of our day cost less than half of what it would have cost to take the NCL excursion tram and Little White House tour ($49/pp).

[Mickb]

We are sailing on the 16 Oct 3 nighter in 0231. Would you mind answering the floowing questions please?

Did the cabin have floor to ceiling windows or the round portholes in the door? What was the balcony furniture like? Did you try Le Bistro at all? Dis you have to wait for tables in the restaurants or do you advise prebooking?Was the bathroom very cramped?

Sorry to have so many questions!Thanks in advance

Mickb

[hamiltito]

We are sailing on the 16 Oct 3 nighter in 0231. Would you mind answering the floowing questions please?

Did the cabin have floor to ceiling windows or the round portholes in the door? What was the balcony furniture like? Did you try Le Bistro at all? Dis you have to wait for tables in the restaurants or do you advise prebooking?Was the bathroom very cramped?

Sorry to have so many questions!Thanks in advance

Mickb

 

-The cabin had a decent-sized porthole and a single glass door.

-Balcony furniture was two outdoor-style chairs with metal/composite frames and an outdoor fabric seat and back and a small table.

-We didn't try Le Bistro on the Sky. We ate there previously on the Sun and Star, but the menu is very different than it was five years ago.

-There was no wait at all in the main dining rooms. I would book 48 hours in advance if you want to eat at Cagney's, but Il Adagio and Le Bistro both appeared to have plenty of openings for same day reservations. One of the nicest improvements we noticed on this cruise that we haven't seen previously on NCL was monitors near all of the restaurants showing whether the various restaurants had openings for reservations throughout the evening.

[mr jailerman]

My wife and I are just home from this week's four day Sky cruise, with itinerary changed from Bahamas to Cozumel/Key West thanks to Hanna. We were upsold prior to the cruise from EE Guarantee to a BB Balcony on Deck 10, room 0044.

 

Sewage/Air Conditioning Issues

-Air conditioning in our stateroom was definitely working.

-Although it wasn't an issue inside our stateroom, we noticed a distinct sewage smell on various levels in the aft of the ship on embarkation day, but not later in the cruise. However, on multiple occasions there was a strong sewage smell outside when we went out on our balcony to read, including a couple occasions where the smell was so bad that we went back inside. If we hadn't gotten the balcony upsell so cheaply ($25/pp) I likely would have complained.

 

Freestyle 2.0

Champaign Welcome - Yes

Escort to Balcony Stateroom - No

Added Lobster - Didn't Notice It

New Matresses - I hope it wasn't new, but the bedding was nicer

Bathrobes - Yes

Fruit Menu - No

Last Night Cookies - No

 

Food

The food on this cruise was easily the worst of our four cruises - not outright awful, but bad enough that although we very much enjoyed the food on our previous three cruises on this cruise at various points we dreaded having to choose where to eat lunch or dinner because the options just weren't appealing. In general it seemed like the food options were both less broad and done more cheaply than on our previous cruises.

-I thought our Cagney's meal was superior to Cagney's on the Star (we both had captain's cut filet), although my wife did not - my own meat was better quality and cooked closer to order (medium) than on the previous ship. However, for the price it still didn't measure up to a top notch steakhouse meal on land, especially for those of us from the DC area who have ready access to Ray's.

-The cheesecake served at Cagney's wasn't nearly as good as the specialty restaurant cheesecake on our previous cruises - it didn't taste at all like real cheesecake.

-The pasta station cooks didn't seem to get that a small amount of garlic goes a long way. The first time I tried the station at dinner in the buffet, the cook included two heaing spoonfuls of garlic and only three thinble-sized pieces of garlic in my pasta. The second time, in Il Adagio at lunch, he included another two heaping spoonfuls, and when I told him I didn't want nearly that much garlic he didn't understand and poured most of the oil out of the pan instead of taking any of the garlic out.

-The Palace breakfast for balcony passengers was a nice idea, but the one morning we went our server wasn't that friendly and the sitdown breakfast options were very limited compared to the buffet.

-The pancakes in the buffet were the best I've had on any cruise.

 

Crew

In general the crew of the ship were as friendly and helpful as any we've encountered. Our room stewards, Jaime and ?, were outstanding.

-I thought the drink sales seemed even pushier than usual. On the pool deck on embarkation day we were asked six times if we wanted a drink before we finished putting on our sunblock.

 

Entertainment/Cruise Director Staff

-Based on the opening night welcome show, we chose not to waste our time going to either of the musical productions. The limited bit from the NCL Production Crew during that session wasn't very good.

-Although we thought the audience participation component of Tim Kaminsky's comedy was overdone, he was very funny and his pool deck session on the final night was the entertainment highlight of the cruise. Tim was great to chat with offstage and was extremely visible around the ship.

-MATT WAS AN ABOVE AVERAGE CRUISE DIRECTOR.

-My wife thought the adult Wii time was overdone and that NCL was shilling Nintendo a little too much. I very much enjoyed taking on Asst. Cruise Director Joe in Wii Tennis.

-The various new parties seemed to be well attended. However, there seemed to be a lot more people sitting around watching the action that participating in it.

 

Cozumel

I typically do extensive research on our ports before we cruise but didn't have a chance to for Cozumel and Key West because our itinerary was changed at the last minute. After shopping around town for an hour or so we took a cab to Paradise Beach and paid for the use of two beach chairs and the other amenities at the beach, and because we weren't looking to eat or drink much the round trip taxis, user fees, and a couple drinks were less than $60, compared to the $59/pp NCL was getting for a shore excursion there with unlimited food and drink.

 

Key West

After taking the mandatory (free) tram from the pier into town we walked around the island on our own, touring the Little White House ($15/pp), which was interesting by probably not worth the cost, then visiting the southernmost point, walking back through town and doing a little shopping with a stop at the Coach outlet for my wife, and then grabbing a slice of key lime pie before tramming back to the ship. Again the activity portion of our day cost less than half of what it would have cost to take the NCL excursion tram and Little White House tour ($49/pp).

Sewage smell while ON THE BALCONY ??:eek: That I can say I have not heard of before ? I am booked right down the Hall from you in 0024.. I'm not going till spring time though so JUST MAYBE they will get around to draining those sewage tanks by then..:eek: :D Was the balcony Funiture comfortable to sit on ? It sounds like you had gotten the newer chairs as the older ones were very small with plastic strapes on the lower and backing and everyone has said how bad they were.. Thanks for your time and welcome home..:)

[hamiltito]

Was the balcony Funiture comfortable to sit on ?

 

The balcony chairs were very comfortable. It's quite possible they were newer, although I don't believe the table was.

 

 

One other annoyance I meant to mention in my OP - Because of the itinerary change our first day was a sea day, which they don't typically have on the Sky cruises. I realize that ship maintenance is always a continuing project with a constant schedule, but maintenance on the sea day impacted a couple ship amenities, and I wonder if both projects shouldn't have been delayed to a port day to ensure they didn't.

 

-When I went to use the running deck around 11 AM they had a small portion of the deck closed off for painting, which meant folks who wanted to walk or run had to do 95% of a lap and then turn around and go in the other direction.

-A person or crew relacquering the railing around the basketball court, which runs above the adult-only pool spilled a can of varnish into the pool from above, meaning they had to close that pool for most of the daylight hours so the pool could be drained and refilled, leading to more crowding than usual in the other pool.

[mr jailerman]

The balcony chairs were very comfortable. It's quite possible they were newer, although I don't believe the table was.

 

 

One other annoyance I meant to mention in my OP - Because of the itinerary change our first day was a sea day, which they don't typically have on the Sky cruises. I realize that ship maintenance is always a continuing project with a constant schedule, but maintenance on the sea day impacted a couple ship amenities, and I wonder if both projects shouldn't have been delayed to a port day to ensure they didn't.

 

-When I went to use the running deck around 11 AM they had a small portion of the deck closed off for painting, which meant folks who wanted to walk or run had to do 95% of a lap and then turn around and go in the other direction.

-A person or crew relacquering the railing around the basketball court, which runs above the adult-only pool spilled a can of varnish into the pool from above, meaning they had to close that pool for most of the daylight hours so the pool could be drained and refilled, leading to more crowding than usual in the other pool.

Thanks !! :)

[Mickb]

Hamiltito

Thank you very much for replying to my questions. I live in the Uk and NCL UK are not helpful - in fact you cannot book the Sky's 3/4 day cruises through the UK office - I had to ring the US booking centre.

Just a couple of further questions if you will permit me:

Did you notice plenty of tables for 2?

Were there pads on the sundeck furniture?

I much appreciate your help

Mickb

---------------

89 QE2 Bermuda

90 QE2 Cruise to nowhere

00 Maasdam W. Caribbean

01 Veendam E Caribbean

02 Mercury W.Caribbean

03 Seven Seas Voyager W.Mediterranean

03 Seven Seas Voyager W.Caribbean

04 Prinsendam Transatlantic

05 Queen Mary2 Transatlantic

06 Queen Mary2 Transatlantic

[hamiltito]

-We were a party of two, and when we weren't immediately seated at a table for two we were immediately seated at a table for four in both regular dining rooms.

 

-No cushions on the balcony chairs, but they were comfortable enough that you don't need them.

[don_woody]

Hamiltito,

The search is down, do you know if they have hairdryers in the rooms?

[HappyTRIPs]

Yes there are hairdryers in each room.